Play With Fire
by EmrysTheMerlin
Summary: Katsuki Bakugou has a lot to prove. She's always known that. So she shoves, she curses and she refuses to back down. Ever. Series of One Shots.
1. Candy

**Author's Note: So I'm two seasons in and I can not handle the cuteness that is My Hero Academia… I'm already working on two cosplays for it, Jiro and Bakugou… So I am doing the thing again… I may be insane. I own nothing.**

Playing With Fire

Candy

Katsuki Bakugou always smelled like candy. Ever since she was little she constantly smelled like caramel. It was a side effect of her quirk. See her sweat was basically nitroglycerin, she could ignite it at her hands but she had been surprised that the chemical smelled like candy. So it was something she'd learned to live with. Honestly it was a nice bonus to an already pretty cool quirk if you asked her. Not that anyone she knew would dare. The only person who'd ever asked about it was Deku who'd been beaten down shortly after. At least until she got into UA.

She knew she'd have to build her reputation from the ground up but she didn't mind. She'd gotten the most points during the practical entrance exam after all. That seemed to have put her on everybody's radar from day one. And she was ok with that, it told them that she wasn't to be messed with, not some little damsel in need of help. But of course, somehow, Deku had gotten into the same class. He hadn't been in the same practical exam as her so she had no idea how he'd gotten enough points to get in. He was quirkless after all. Or at least he had been. That seemed to have changed, which shouldn't be possible. She was going to work out exactly how that had happened. There was no way that he'd been lying to her their whole lives, she'd have figured him out. But at the moment she had other things to be concerned about, like the creepy purple fucker constantly following her around sniffing.

"The fuck are you doing!" The grin on the boys face was lecherous and he winked at her.

"You smell amazing." That was all he had the chance to say before she blasted him in the face. Leaving him charred she walked into the cafeteria. One of the other girls in her class, the pink one, Ashido, stepped up to her.

"About time someone other than Tsu put that dick in his place." She held out her hand to Bakugou. "I don't think we've actually properly met yet. I'm Ashido." Bakugou hesitated but shook the other girl's hand.

"Bakugou." Ashido nodded.

"Oh I know, you've got one of the most badass quirks in class! Plus you got the most points in the practical! Too cool." Bakugou listened to Ashido babble for a while without really paying attention as she collected her lunch and sat down well away from Deku and his new friends. The invisible girl, Hagakure sat down next to Ashido, across from Bakugou and waved. Or at least Bakugou was pretty sure that's what she was doing, it was hard to tell without actually seeing the girl. But it didn't really matter. Until she spoke.

"What smells like caramel? That's my favorite candy! Do you think they have some here?" Bakugou shrugged. Ashido shook her head.

"No, I think it's Bakugou's perfume. It smells amazing though, I'd love to know where you get it." Bakugou shook her head.

"I don't wear perfume." Before Ashido could question it the bell rang and Bakugou headed back to class. No one questioned why Mineta was charred when they got back to class and no one brought the candy smell back up. Until they were sparring that was. She had been paired up with Kirishima, the rockhead was the one who questioned it because he had no fear, at least he didn't appear to.

"How come you smell like candy Bakugou?" She glared at him but Yaurozu was the one who answered.

"Of course she smells like candy. Nitroglycerin smells like caramel." Bakugou blinked at the other girl. Then she remembered that she could make anything non living but she had to understand the chemical makeup, of course she would understand the chemical makeup of more dangerous elements. The subject seemed to have dropped except for a small incident of her desk being covered in wrapped caramels. She just brushed them off into the trash and lit the whole thing on fire. The classroom smelled like burned sugar for a week and she got detention but it was worth it.


	2. Small Life

**Author's Note: I honestly have no idea what I'm doing I'm just rolling with this for now. So this whole story has no plot or ships yet… I don't know I just wanted to write some fem Bakugou stuff cause it's fun. I own nothing.**

Small Life

She had no idea how it had gotten into the school. That should probably have concerned her more, but it wasn't like it was a threat to anyone. She knelt down and scooped it up. How the hell had it even walked this far, she frowned looking down at its small paw. It was a tiny tawny brown kitten. She wouldn't have heard it if she hadn't stopped to tie her shoe on the way out of the locker room. She unzipped the gym top, glad she'd worn a tank top under it today and tucked the small ball of fuzz into the jacket. Without another thought she stepped off to the training ground she was quite glad they had All Might today instead of Aizawa, she had a feeling he probably wouldn't be as understanding about bringing an injured kitten with her to training.

She was right of course. She hung back as the others rushed off into their teams, she was supposed to be working with Half-And-Half and Deku today, to retake a building from the 'villains' today being Tokoyami, Sero and Jirou. The others were waiting in the control room but All Might raised an eyebrow at Bakugou as she pulled the kitten out of her jacket with a little trouble. She silently handed it over to All Might and ran to catch up with the others.

All Might smiled at the ball of fluff curled up in his hand. Bakugou had more of a soft side than she would admit. Once the training, which had been about how to take advantage of a situation without any equipment, was over he congratulated the winning team, Deku, Todoroki and Bakugou, he handed the kitten back to Bakugou without a word as the next group was prepping to leave so no one would notice. She quietly thanked him and smiled slightly.

Deku noticed but said nothing. He'd seen Kachan's soft side many times before when they were kids, before she decided she wanted to be a hero. So many people had told her she wouldn't be taken seriously, that girls couldn't be real heroes. That she could work rescue and make just as much with her quirk. She'd begun lashing out at that, she refused help, snapped when people tried. She had everything to prove and she knew it. She was going to be one of the greatest heroes of their time. Of that he was sure as she absently scratched the kitten between the ears before meeting his eyes and flipping him off.


	3. After School Activities

**Author's Note: I am literally just having fun here. I own nothing.**

After School Activities

It took them a while to realize what was going on but they did eventually realize. Kirishima was the first to realize something was off. Every Wednesday Bakugou would disappear after school. She refused to make plans for Wednesdays, ever no matter who was trying to make the plan. She would only grunt angrily when anyone asked what she was doing. They were changing in the boys locker room when Kaminari brought it up again.

"So come on what do you think she's doing? Secret boyfriend maybe?" Sero shrugged.

"She doesn't seem like the type who'd keep that a secret. I mean maybe I guess." Kirishima laughed.

"Hey I know who might know. Hey! Midoriya!" Deku turned pulling on his school shirt. "Listen we're debating where Bakugou disappears off to every Wednesday, any ideas?" Deku went bright red and hid his face.

"She would literally kill me if I told anyone." Was all they could get out of him. Todoroki shook his head. He was supposed to be meeting his older sister in the city today. She was taking her class to see some performance at a ballet studio. So he waved goodbye to Yaoyorozu and set off. Deku ducked out of the boys locker room and waved at Iida and Uraraka. He glanced around and Uraraka seemed to know what he was looking for.

"If you're worried about Bakugou she already left. It was kinda weird though, she had an extra bag today, but she left it in her gym locker all day and just took it with her when she left." Iida frowned.

"That is quite unusual." Deku shrugged. He knew what was likely in the bag, it really wasn't that weird that she hadn't wanted questions asked about what she was doing after school. Of course he didn't say anything, a long standing threat to set him on fire repeatedly if her secret ever got out echoing in his head. He shook himself. He didn't have to worry about it.

Todoroki was early, he liked being punctual, if he was punctual no one had any reason to snap at him. His sister waved at him from the head of her class all of whom looked at him in his UA school uniform like he was the coolest thing that had ever walked the earth. Fuyumi taught a class of middle schoolers, this must have been a voluntary field trip though because her whole class wasn't here.

"Shoto! I thought you might be early! They said it would be fine if you joined us." Shoto nodded and waited with them answering a question here and there as politely as he could until the woman in charge stepped up to the gathered classes. There were only three there but they would easily fill most of the seats in the small auditorium. The woman in charge was tall with snakes for hair and scales that traveled well down her face and neck but she looked kind when she smiled.

"Welcome! We would like to take this time to thank you all for attending today's free performance and ask you to please turn off all electronic devices. We would also ask that you refrain from any quirk use during the performance, as it may distract or even endanger the dancers. As you know we are showcasing our after school program today. Most of these dancers have been with us since they were in middle school or even before. We are extremely proud to have an attendee of the UA hero course as one of our long standing dancers." Shoto blinked. A hero course student here? But who? He hadn't really paid attention to his classmates outside of the class setting before now. It was probably Uraraka or maybe even Ashido. The woman was still talking. "And please remember that there is no quirk use during the performance." She smiled again, showing sharp teeth. Then she stepped off the stage and the lights dimmed. The curtain pulled back and the stage lights came on.

There were ten people on the stage. All paired off, all standing still for a moment until the music began. The pairs around the edges began to swirl with the beat of the song. It was a mid tempo love song, something Shoto would normally tune out but he was too stunned at the moment because that had definitely not been the classmate he'd been expecting on that stage.

Katsuki Bakugou was dancing center stage, dressed in the only red leotard and swirling skirt on the stage. All the other girls were wearing white, the men black. But Bakugou's partner was the only boy in white. They were clearly meant to be the centerpiece of this dance and Shoto could see why. They swirled and spun with a grace he'd never associated with his crude mouthed classmate. Bakugou's hair had been pulled up from where it normally sat, carelessly mussed and curling around her shoulders. Red decorations sparkled in the carefully styled bun and for once her bangs were out of her eyes, pinned back with something else sparkly. He honestly hadn't known the human body could bend like that, she was bet backwards, one hand holding her foot as she spun. He shook his head in slight amazement as he realized she was wearing pointe shoes that kept her literally on her toes no matter what movement she made. Her partner lifted her effortlessly into the air as the song reached its climax then gently set her back on her feet, the two ending the dance in the center of the stage, where they'd begun the man holding Bakugou close, almost tenderly. The curtain slipped closed and Fuyumi leaned over to him as the lights cam back up.

"A hero course student? You know someone up there?" Shoto nodded and blinked as the curtain opened again. The dancers were still there and all bowed in pairs, leaving Bakugou and her partner for last, they got the loudest round of applause and Bakugou was smirking out at the crowd, the same expression she had when she won during sparring and training. Then she made eye contact with him, her crimson eyes went wide and her smirk turned into the scowl she normally sent Midoriya. Then the woman with snakes for hair stepped forwards, her smile still in place.

"And now we have time for some questions for our dancers!" She went through and introduced each dancer in turn, her smile growing wider when she reached Bakugou. "And this is Katsuki Bakugou, first year Hero Course Student at UA. She's also been with us since she was in elementary school." The woman finished the introductions and several hands were raised around the auditorium. She called on a few who had questions about the music and simple things like that, then one of Fuyumi's students raised her hand.

"I have a question for Miss Bakugou!" She stated when she was called on and immediately turned her attention on the blonde. "How come you're doing this when you're a hero student?" Shoto could practically see Bakugou holding back the curses he knew she regularly sprinkled her vocabulary with.

"Because this is actually decent training for being a hero." Before anyone could ask what she meant she began to tick things off on her fingers. "You get flexibility training like nothing you get at even UA from ballet." To prove her point she bent her foot all the way up to her head without even holding her leg then did a back bend that ended with her standing on her hands. A few students clapped. "Plus you build up stamina in ballet, it's a lot harder than it looks. Takes a lot of training and you can't slack off at all." That seemed to answer the girl's question. About ten more minutes of that passed before the teachers began to file out. Shoto hung back, Fuyumi giving him a knowing look as she escorted her students back onto the bus. He had really just come to see his sister, he didn't really know why he was hanging around as the dancers began to trickle out of their dressing rooms. Several of the girls giggled when they spotted his uniform. He was starting to wonder if maybe there was a side entrance when Bakugou came out of the woman's dressing room. She scowled at him.

"The fuck are you doing here Icy Hot?" He frowned at the nickname.

"My sister is a teacher, her class came here on a field trip. I wanted to see her." Bakugou swore under her breath.

"I don't see her here now Half-and-Half. So why are you sticking around." Shoto shrugged.

"You dance well." Bakugou's hands flared with light and she growled.

"Are you making fun of me Icy Hot!?" He shook his head. "Because my mom forced me into the stupid fucking program as a kid. And I swear if you tell anyone I will fuck up your shit!"

"I am not making fun of you. I think you dance well, which isn't something I would have expected from you. It explains why you can last longer in sparing than the others in our class. It's a very physically demanding sport." She blinked at him, seemingly stunned silent. He turned towards the door. "I wont tell anyone, but I think you're very talented, I'm surprised." He heard her grumble at that as he stepped out of the building, then he thought better of it and turned around as she exited. She frowned at him.

"Now what do you want Icy Hot?"

"I would like to walk you home." She blinked at him.

"I don't need you to walk me anywhere Bastard!" With that she stomped off, grumbling expletives under his breath. If Todoroki followed at a distance to make sure she got home alright that was entirely his business.


	4. Music

**Author's Note: This has kinda just turned into classmate's learning shit about Bakugou… I own nothing.**

Music 

Jirou Kyouka loved her quirk, don't get her wrong, but sometimes there was just too much noise in the world. Her ears were sensitive to begin with so sometimes it just got to be a little loud. What often helped to lessen the thumping pounding of sound on her eardrums was focusing on a sound, any sound. Usually it was a familiar voice but she was currently alone at the grocery store and her phone was too low on battery to play her music and still get her home with a charge. Then she caught the dim sound of music playing loudly in headphones. The thump of the rhythm made the other noises slip into the background. She followed the sound around the corner into the bakery and frowned looking around.

She spotted the headphones before she spotted the person wearing them. They were bright blue, All Might themed but just the colors they were without the tall pieces that mimicked the heroes hair. Much more subtle than something Midoriya would wear. They were large, over ear headphones too which meant whoever was wearing them was listening to them at a near dangerous register for even her to be able to hear the music outside the headphones. The Jirou realized that the blonde hair and slim but well muscled build were familiar.

Bakugou had her hair up in a braid, which might have been why it had taken Jirou a minute to recognize her, that and she wasn't in her school uniform which made sense because it was a Saturday. Instead she was wearing a black cut off shirt with a white logo that read 'Parental Advisory' and jeans which were tucked into her black boots. She looked like she was picking bread as the music blared in her headphones. She must have felt Jirou's eyes on her for she turned suddenly one hand slipping into her pocket, clicking off the music. Jirou frowned at its loss but smiled at Bakugou who raised an eyebrow at her.

"What are you grinning at Soundwave?" It sort of perplexed Jirou that Bakugou never called anybody by their names. But then crimson eyes narrowed at her as the taller blonde stepped over to her. "You look like shit." Jirou shrugged.

"Just didn't expect to run into a classmate here, you know?" Bakugou's eyes remained narrowed as Jirou fiddled with one of the chords that dangled from her ears.

"You do that a lot when shit gets loud." Bakugou pointed out turning back to the bread. Jirou stilled her hand.

"Really?" Bakugou nodded.

"You do it a lot around Fake Pikachu and Yaoyorozu too." Jirou blinked slightly as she grabbed a loaf of bread and crossed it off her own list, Bakugou making her way to the fresh fruits. "So either it's too loud in here for you or you spotted one of them, but I'm pretty sure neither of them live around here so, too loud?" The question was casual enough as Bakugou picked a few apples off the display and stuck them in her basket. Jirou nodded slightly.

"A little, but not too bad. Focusing on one sound tends to help though. But how'd you figure that out?" Bakugou shrugged.

"I fucking pay attention." Jirou nodded after a second. Bakugou's hand slipped back into her pocket and the music returned, but the blonde didn't return her headphones to their normal place, instead letting them rest around her neck. Jirou was startled for a moment but both girls continued shopping in silence, save for the music. Bakugou's taste in music wasn't what Jirou had thought it would be. It wasn't loud metal bands, though there were a few choice songs here and there. Whatever playlist the other girl had going had more pop music than she would probably admit to later, but neither commented on it.

Soon enough both girls were done shopping and heading out of the store. Jirou's headache had been chased away by the music and she grinned slightly at Bakugou.

"Thanks." Bakugou shook her head.

"I got no idea what you're talking about Soundwave." With that she slipped her headphones on properly and walked away in the opposite direction than Jirou was traveling. Before she could walk away entirely Jirou stopped her despite the annoyed look on Bakugou's face as she pulled her headphones down again.

"How come you call almost everyone nicknames but not Deku or Yaoyorozu?" Bakugou rolled her eyes.

"First off dumbass, Deku is a nickname. Second off I only call people I respect by name." With that she pulled her headphones up again and walked away disappearing in the crowds of people.


	5. Collapse Zone

**Author's Note: Rewatching season one…. I own nothing.**

Collapse Zone

Bakugou and Kirishima lunged forwards both aiming blows at the smoky villain in front of them. They landed in a cloud of dust and smoke. When it cleared the man was still in front of them, seemingly unaffected. Bakugou's mind raced. He had to be able to be hurt. No one was completely impervious. Then she spotted the armor, glinting in the smoke. He had to have a physical body in there somewhere and she was going to blow it to bits. Or at least that was the plan until the smoky form flared and swallowed them whole. She swore as Kirishima grabbed her arm, trying to keep them from getting separated she realized as the ground fell out from under her. She rolled with the feeling and came up crouching as Kirishima slammed into the floor around her. She reacted as she heard others landing around her. Rolling left she blasted upwards a large body slamming into the wall, an unfamiliar grunt echoed around them.

The sound of shattering metal alerted her to Kirishima's position behind her. He was back on his feet, skin like rock facing off against the others in the room. None of them were familiar, none of them classmates, that meant she didn't have to hold back. She blocked a strike with one of her gauntlets and blasted the offending villain as she felt her gauntlet shatter. She let if fall without a fight and kicked the offending villain in the chest for good measure. He flew back into two of his fellows and she felt someone stand with their back to her, had to be Kirishima.

"Back to back!" She nodded and blasted out at the bad guys. The room around them was starting to shake. Without even thinking about it Bakugou grabbed Kirishima and jumped as the floor collapsed. She managed to catch them both one handed and throw Kirishima into the group of villains heading their way. She pulled herself back up and dodged backwards, just missing as one of the villains slashed at her catching her mask, nicking her face as she blasted him back. The fabric pooled around her neck and she kept going slamming her second gauntlet into a woman as she lunged at Kirishima's back. The two of them made quick work of their opponents. And soon it was just the two of them, or at least it looked like it. There was a rustling that spoke of another person in the room but none of the bad guys were getting back up, all unconscious. It could be Hagakure, the invisible girl, but she would have made her presence known to them by now if it was, there was something else in the room with them.

"We have to regroup with the others, if we're still in the USJ so are they." Bakugou shook her head pulling her mask off entirely, letting it drop from her un-gauntleted hand. She pulled off the glove on that hand too, it was too torn to be of much use right now anyway.

"You go look for our classmates if you want. I'm gonna take out that smoky bastard." A small argument and another defeated villain and Kirishima was following her out of what had turned out to be the collapse zone. They arrived just in time to spot Deku rushing into trouble, like the idiot he was.

Bakugou leapt forwards, slamming into the pillar of smoke and latching one hand onto the neck armor basting both of them off balance and landing on top of the villain.

"The fuck out of my way Deku!" She snarled it and let a small blast against the armor to let the villain know she meant business.

"Wasn't that hard to figure you out. Only some of you turns into those smoking warp gates. You've got a physical body in there, you just hide it with the smoke from your gates, but you're not immune to physical attacks if they're well aimed." Bakugou was too busy making sure the villain didn't move to spot the calculating look that crossed the smoking face. She did catch Todoroki's slight surprise out of the corner of her eye as she threatened to blow the warp villain's head off the rest of whatever body he had. She knew she would have her hands full for the moment and the others would have to take care of the creepy hands guy and the thing with the exposed brain. If he got free they could escape. The creepy hands guy seemed to have realized it too.

"But first we need to free our means of escape. Nomu. Get her." The order was simple and sent a jolt of fear down Bakugou's spine. There was no one else he could be talking about, she was the only girl in the area. She didn't even see the thing move it was too fast. There was no way she was going to be able to move out to the way in time. She was going to die. She closed her eyes and landed on her ass as Deku called out.

"Kacchan!" She blinked and made a confused sound at the back of her throat, all three boys present turning to her relief written openly on two faces and more subtly on the last one. She was now standing with them nearly four feet away from where she had been. She hadn't even moved but Deku didn't seem to get that.

"That is so cool, you managed to dodge it!" She shook her head as Todoroki offered his un-iced hand to pull her to her feet. She blinked at him and pulled herself up, without his help.

"I couldn't even see him move." Deku frowned.

"Then how…?" Todoroki answered their question pointing at All Might as the dust from where the wall to their left had been demolished cleared.

The fight between Nomu and All Might was hard to follow, even from where they stood, not very far away at all. Close enough to be blasted backwards by the force of the wind from the blows Nomu and All Might were landing on each other.

Before she knew what was really happening it was all over. All Might blasted Nomu out of the USJ and the other teachers arrived. The smoky bastard grabbed the handsy guy and warped out before they could stop them. Deku had broken both of his legs, but the rest of them seemed relatively unharmed. Kirishima rushed over to check on Deku as Todoroki stepped over to Bakugou.

"You're bleeding." He held out a handkerchief to her and she ran a hand over where she'd been nicked with the blade during her fight in the collapse zone. It was bleeding again, not a lot but enough to make it noticeable.

"It's nothing." Todoroki held out the kerchief regardless. She glared at him but he didn't back down so she snatched it out of his hand and held it to her bleeding cheek, grumbling as Kirishima came back their way, shouting that they were supposed to meet back up with the others at the entrance. Bakugou glanced back over her shoulder. Both All Might and Deku were hidden behind a newly created cement wall one of the teachers had thrown up. Something wasn't right. She didn't know what but she was sure as hell going to find out. She got pulled aside as the students filed out by one of the emergency workers who checked over her cheek. It wasn't even going to scar. She was almost disappointed.

Deku didn't rejoin them, neither did All Might, both of them having apparently been spirited away to Recovery Girl's office. Bakugou stared back at the USJ as the others babbled about what they'd all been doing during the fight. Someone tapped her on the shoulder and she tensed, hands balling into fists automatically as she turned. But it was just Todoroki.

"We're loading onto the bus." Bakugou made a non committal grunt but headed for the bus anyway. Kirishima intercepting her on the way to talk about how badass it had been that she'd figured out the warp villains weakness so quickly. She missed the slightly disappointed look on Todoroki's face as she boarded the bus.


	6. Group Outing

**Author's Note: I'm messing with the timeline a bit, so the sports festival takes place about two weeks after the attack on the USJ. I own nothing.**

Group Outing

They had all been training like crazy over the past week and all of them were tired. Even Mr. Aizawa noticed it through the bandages still on his face and insisted that they take a day before they drove themselves into the ground and weren't able to participate in the upcoming sports festival. The class had decided that they should go out and do something as a group, sort of a team bonding thing. But no one had any ideas on what exactly they should do. Until Mineta spoke up.

"Well there's something this weekend I was gonna do! We could all go to that." Everyone looked at him with distain and a little bit of shock. It was already well known to them that Mineta's ideas weren't exactly kosher most of the time. Bakugou snorted.

"Count me out. I got plans this weekend." With that she picked up her bag and left the classroom. Iida shouted after her that she needed to participate more. Deku raised his hand slightly and Yaoyorozu nodded to him.

"I actually have plans this weekend too. I'm sorry." As it turned out the only other person who had plans was Todoroki. But Iida, never one to shoot down an idea before it was even spoken let Mineta speak.

"There's this big showcase for this dance studio in town this weekend. I was gonna go to that." The class blinked at him, none of them having expected that from the perverted boy. Jirou leaned forward slightly and frowned.

"Why?" Mineta's grin was lecherous as always.

"Cause ballerinas are hot!" The whole class groaned but in the end agreed that it would at least be an interesting evening and would likely have much more class than Mineta made it sound. Deku had his head buried in his hands, Todoroki looked a bit contemplative but no one was brave enough to comment.

Midoriya really wished Kacchan hadn't left the room so quickly. She might have been at least prepared but no she'd left early and missed the fact that the whole class had agreed to go to the showcase that her dance studio was putting on for their graduating class. The program was only for children ages five to sixteen, and Kacchan's class would be putting on their final performance that weekend. He was going with his mother and Kacchan's parents. He'd spotted Todoroki hanging out at the studio a few times too but had never had the guts to ask his cold classmate what he was doing there. So when Saturday rolled around Midoriya found himself trying to hide in his suit as he glanced around the crowd looking for his classmates. Unfortunately for him they spotted him first.

"Deku! You decided to come after all!" He was nearly bowled over by the force of Uraraka's hug and he blushed bright red, stuttering and stammering until his mother spotted him.

"I… Um.. Uraraka, this is my mother." The rest of the class was quickly introduced to his mother and then things started going downhill when they spotted the flowers he was holding. They were multicolored daises, he hadn't known what else to get Kacchan but his mother had insisted it was tradition to get a performer some kind of flowers for after the performance. He was trying to stammer an explanation for them when Bakugou's mother spotted them in the crowd and waved. The others blinked, they'd never met Kacchan's family but it was hard not to see the resemblance between mother and daughter. As the class began to file into the auditorium Midoriya spotted the final straw that made him give up on tonight as something that would likely get him blown up in the next few days. Todoroki, the only member of their class he hadn't seen in the group was slipping into the auditorium through another door, holding a bunch of white roses. He sighed, resigned to his fate as he took a seat between his mother and Uraraka. The crowd slowly quieted as the lights dimmed and a woman with snakes for hair made her way onto the stage in front of the curtain.

"I would like to thank you all for coming tonight. As many of you know this is a very special night, as it will be the final performance for our older students. Many of them have been with us since they were children and will be sorely missed in the program. But they are all going on to bigger and better things." She began to list several accomplishments and scholarships to dance academy's that several of the students had earned.

"And of course we are wildly pleased to have a first year Hero Course student at UA graduating from our program today." That sent a near silent ripple through the class and Midoriya sank down in his chair. Uraraka frowned.

"Must be someone from class B." She reasoned quietly to Asui. Midoriya was hiding behind the flowers still in his arms. The noise died back down and the woman continued to speak.

"Now I do have to let you know that there is some practical quirk use on stage tonight. There will be flashing lights and some loud noises. But there is no need to worry, it has all been approved by the city council and my students know exactly what they're doing. Without further ado I would like to introduce this year's graduating class!" There was a smattering of applause as the woman stepped offstage and the curtain raised to cackling laughter. The whole class was there, all in black, under red lights. The thumping beat of a song began and the dance commenced. There was one boy in what looked like street clothes who was being tormented by the other dancers, all of whom had some kind of horror mask on. Familiar blonde hair spun around a torn angel's face as the 'demon' dancers surrounded the boy who fake fought his way out of them only to be dragged back by the same torn angel face. They spun together in a mock battle as the music swelled, and she forced him back into the other demon dancers. They surrounded him and hid him from sight so just his arm was visible reaching out as the song ended and the lights went out.

Applause echoed through the room as the curtain dropped and Midoriya breathed a sigh of relief. So far no one had realized that the angry firecracker of their class had been the demon angel on stage. But that was not the last dance. The curtain rose again and he relaxed a bit more. She wasn't on stage for this one, likely changing for the next number she was in. This one had a girl in a translucent bubble, Midoriya remembered that one of Kacchan's fellow dancers had a light bending quirk as the dance went on and the bubble shattered in time with the music, the audience oohing and awing.

A few more dances went by and Midoriya was almost certain they were going to get out of the auditorium alive. Then the second to last number began and he knew he was a dead man. Kacchan stood on stage, no mask this time in a different outfit. This one had a white top with small cap sleeves that hugged her torso and a short purple skirt with what looked like coins sewn along the edges that tinkled slightly when she moved. There was a boy on stage too, Kacchan's long time dance partner Sato Hiziku. He was dressed in something that made him look a bit like a preacher. It all made sense when the music began.

It sounded very much like a catholic hymn for the first few seconds as Hiziku danced around Kacchan who stood stock still until he touched her. It was a song from one of Kacchan's favorite old Disney movies. It spoke of fire burning and desire blazing and as the music did so her hands flared with lights and small pops from her more controlled explosions. The two danced around each other Kacchan clearly acting as a temptress for the song until she was caught then she would spin and leap away, sparks and small flames dropping from her fingers. The song ended with one of Hiziku's hands wrapped around Kacchan's waist the other in her hair. Sparks flew and the curtain dropped, applause rang out, though his class seemed too stunned to react. In a few minutes the curtain rose again, the whole class was out again for the closing number which started slow and soft. This time they were all in colorful pastels. Hiziku and Kacchan started this dance slow and soft as the music continued that way, then slowly it began to build and the other dancers joined them. They switched partners, spinning and kicking and leaping as the music swelled and grew more energetic. Light danced around the dancers as several leapt onto a bar at the back of the stage and began what could only be called an acrobatics routine.

Midoriya wasn't surprised that Kacchan was one of the ones on the bar as the whole class danced in unison. He was a bit surprised when they all leapt off it into another dancer's arms, spinning and lifting as the music swelled again. Hiziku lifted Kacchan over his head and slowly lowered her as the music lowered swiftly in tempo before swaying out entirely as they gently spun with each other. The curtain dropped again and the lights in the auditorium came on full force as the crowd applauded wildly. The curtain lifted and the students bowed as the woman from the beginning of the show introduced them each in turn. There were only ten of them but it seemed to take forever to reach Kacchan who clearly hadn't spotted any of her class yet if the self-satisfied smirk on her face was anything to go by but then her eyes flashed dangerously in their direction and Midoriya knew they were all dead.

The curtain fell for the last time and the crowd began to make its way back into the atrium as his classmates began to babble. Kirishima was trying to figure out why she hadn't told them that she was a dancer. Jirou was debating the music choices with Kaminari. Mineta was drooling, Asui smacked him. Uraraka and Iida had cornered Midoriya, a concerned looking Yaoyorozu and Ashido close behind them. The others were all gossiping in their groups.

"Deku did you know?" Then Uraraka hit herself in the forehead. "Of course you knew! I mean that's why you brought flowers isn't it?" Midoriya stammered an explanation but a snort from behind him cut him off.

"Did that idiot daughter of mine actually not tell anyone?" It was Mitsuki Bakugou, Kacchan's mother. She introduced herself as such and went off about how Katsuki had been keeping her dancing under wraps since she was five and had been signed up for the program. The class stood stunned listening to the woman speak, and swear. Suddenly so much about Bakugou made sense, she was exactly like her mother, though maybe a bit more explosive. "I thought she would have at least told her class I mean I know Izuku knows, he's known since she was little but that nice Todoroki boy's been showing up to her performances for the past month too." That caught everyone off guard but not as much as the voice that sounded behind the group did.

"What lies are you feeding them you hag?" It was Kacchan. She was dressed in a simple black dress with a silver belt and flat shoes. Her hair was still in the elegant curls it had been in during her last two performances and she was wearing makeup, sparkling red and gold liner and shadow making her eyes sparkle. Aoyama was whispering to Ashido about where she might have gotten it. Then someone tapped her on her shoulder. It was Todoroki. The whole class stood stunned peeking out form behind Midoriya's mother and Bakugou's parents at the exchange.

"What do you want Icy-Hot?" Silently Todoroki held out the roses. Bakugou blinked at them for a minute before her mother piped up.

"Oh just take the fucking flowers Katsuki!" She snatched them out of Todoroki's hand, petals flying as she shouted back at her mother. Todoroki wasn't quite smiling but there was a twinkle in his eyes before he slipped away. Inko gently pushed Deku forwards and he was pretty sure he was about to die of embarrassment or severe burns as he shoved the daisies on top of the roses and hid behind Mitsuki who laughed as Kacchan raged at him. She was interrupted as someone else tapped her on the shoulder.

"Thought that was you Katsuki! You're voice carries quite a bit you know." 

"Fuck you!" She fumed as Deku waved slightly from his spot behind Mitsuki. It was her dance partner who laughed at her cursing.

"I'm going to miss you Katsuki." She rolled her eyes at him as he wrapped her in a hug. Her classmates held their breaths sure that the boy was about to be blown away.

"Fuck off Sato! You know you won't miss my heavy ass when you're off at that American dance academy." Sato laughed and ruffled her hair.

"Better that than UA for me, but I expect to hear great things about you, my long time dance partner turned soon to be pro hero!" She started smacking him with the daisies as petals flew around them. Iida decided it was probably a good time for them all to be heading off towards their respective homes, while Bakugou was too busy beating up her dance partner to bother with her class. None of them noticed that Todoroki had actually stuck around, just a bit deeper into the crowd so no one could see the slight blush on his face. He made his way over to Bakugou again as her partner left. She blinked at him for a moment before she let out an annoyed sound.

"Thanks for the fucking flowers Half-and-Half." He nodded absently brushing a daisy out of her hair. They were mostly destroyed but it seemed that she'd deigned to spare the roses the same treatment. Her parents were calling her over, they were going out to dinner to celebrate, and dragging Inko and Izuku with them though the green haired boy looked about ready to flop. Bakugou made eye contact with him for the first time since he'd handed her the roses. Bright red meeting blue and grey.

"Don't think this means I won't kick your ass at the Sports Festival though." With that she walked away, leaving him alone in the crowd.


	7. After Dinner Conversations

**Author's Note: So I actually really like the sports festival arc as is. I may go back and do a chapter here or there about it but I'm kinda caught on the kidnapping right now. I never said these would be any kind of order… but first I have a promise to fulfill. I own nothing.**

After Dinner Conversations

Katsuki Bakugou was pissed. Her class had apparently decided that they were all going to come to her final dance performance and she hadn't even known about it until after the dancing was over. Not like she could have backed out of it if she wanted to. Not only would her mother kick her ass but her long time dance partner was counting on them both being perfect to impress the teachers from the American dance academy that had been there. Of course they'd been impressed, who wouldn't be, Sato Hiziku was a fantastic dancer and an even better choreographer. But her whole hero course class had been there, seen her in a pastel blue leotard spinning and leaping around like an idiot. She was never going to live this down.

She picked at the food on her plate as Inko and Mitsuki talked back and forth about their kids in hero course. Last time someone had found out about her dancing it had been one of the kids she'd hung out with in kindergarten. He'd called her a prissy girl who'd never be like All Might. She'd blown up at that, literally and figuratively. The teachers had blamed it on her being so young that she didn't really have control of her quirk. But she'd threatened to do it to him again if he ever told anyone. That was when her reputation as a bully began, when the kids started to get scared of her, to respect her. Then Deku had found out and said that she looked nice with her hair up and she'd blown up at him too. But that had been a genuine inability to control her quirk, back when it was still ok for her to ask for help. She sighed as her father picked up the check insisting that it was alright as Inko and Deku thanked him profusely. She grew more annoyed as her mother invited them both back to their house for desert.

"Where do you think you're going?" Mitsuki questioned as her daughter rose from the couch where she'd been pouting for the last hour or so while the adults talked in the kitchen and Izuku buried his head in a book.

"Out hag!" With that she disappeared out the front door not even pausing to grab a jacket. A few minutes later Deku peeked out from behind the book and frowned. He stood and stepped over to his mother.

"Um Mom?" She turned to him smiling.

"Yes Izuku dear?"

"I'm gonna go after Kacchan. It's kinda cold out and she forgot her jacket and…" He trailed off as Mitsuki laughed at him grabbing a jacket off the rack near the door and throwing it at him.

"You're too good for my girl you know Izuku." Mitsuki patted him on the back as he shook his head and blushed stammering as he left. Inko smiled after her son.

"Some days I wonder if he'll ever realize how he really feels about her." Mitsuki snorted.

"She's gotta pull her head out of her ass at some point, give them time." Inko nodded and smiled as Bakugou's father served some more tea.

It wasn't hard to figure out where Kacchan had gone. The two of them had been living in the same neighborhood since they were children. It was a small place, a few condos, like the one Kacchan and her family lived in and a few apartment building in one of which he lived with his mother. But in the center of this plaza of life was a well maintained playground. It had to be well maintained because children of every age played there, quirks manifesting without warning. Deku could still remember the time that one of their junior high classmates had gotten tangled in the jungle gym after his stretching quirk manifested. A small forested park sat next to the playground but on the swings with her back to him sat Kacchan.

She was still in her black dress and silver belt. It had been a while since Deku had seen her in a dress, outside of school where she was forced into the girl's uniform. But she didn't look quite comfortable. There was a cold breeze in the air tonight. She hadn't spotted him yet. He wasn't sure he wanted her to yet. There were so many memories they shared on this playground. Good and bad, they'd met here after all when their parents had decided they were old enough at two years old. Everything had been so simple back then.

They'd talked about heroes and both admitted that All Might was the coolest and become fast friends in moments. Kacchan was a popular child, a natural talent at most things she put her mind to. Then her quirk had manifested and she'd become even cooler. It hadn't really gone downhill until one of their teachers asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up.

Both of them had wanted to be heroes but he still didn't have a quirk so most of the class had laughed at him, commenting that Kacchan always fought his battles for him. Anyone who needed a girl to protect them couldn't be a hero. That had been the first honest fight Kacchan had gotten in. She'd blacked the boys eye and he'd nearly broken her nose smacking her in the face with one of his two extra arms. One of the teachers had said she was acting like a villain and after that everything had changed. Kacchan had changed, they'd drifted apart, she'd grown angrier. Rejecting that a girl had to wait for someone to attack them before they could be called a hero. She'd joined the others in picking on him when it became clear that he wasn't going to get a quirk. Yet here they were years later, both Hero Course Students vying for the top spot, prepping for the sports festival. He sighed and she jumped in her spot on the swing glancing over her shoulder.

"The hag send you after me?" Deku shook his head.

"No. She did give me your coat though." He held it out to her and she sat still on her swing, contemplating him.

"Was it your idea for the class of extras to come to the fucking performance?" She was glaring daggers at him, but her frown wasn't as inhospitable as he knew it could get. He shook his head and explained what had happened. She scoffed at the mention of Mineta. "Purple fuck is creepy." Deku nodded stepping closer cautiously and holding the jacket within her reach. She glared at him for a minute before she snatched it from him shrugging it on. He let a soft smile grace his face as he inched to the swing next to her and sat down. They were silent for a while as she gently swung.

"So someone gave you your shitty ass quirk." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. He jumped then remembered that he had admitted at least that much to her after she'd lost to him and Uraraka during hero training. He nodded down at his toes as she went silent again. "How the fuck does that work?"

"I uh… I can't tell you Kacchan. I'm sorry. I wasn't even supposed to tell you that much but I… I didn't want you to think I'd been lying to you for years. I wouldn't do that." She scoffed.

"You couldn't do that. You're a shit liar Deku." She went quiet again for another moment. "You can't tell me but that doesn't mean I won't figure it out on my own." Deku blustered and babbled at that, panic sending his voice high and nearly unintelligible. Katsuki rolled her eyes, leaned over and smacked him in the back of the head, effectively cutting off the flow of noise. He glanced up at her from between his hands.

"You were fucking babbling again shitty nerd. It gets annoying and you look like you're gonna have a fit when you do it." He blushed and shook his head slightly as they lapsed back into silence. He kicked at the dirt under his feet as she leaned back slightly looking to see if she could see any stars tonight in the city sky.

"What happened to us Kacchan?" She froze. He kept talking, not babbling but contemplating, like how he usually talked things that he found difficult to comprehend. "We were so close when we were little. Why did everything have to change because of our quirks?" She shook her head debating with herself for a minute. Then she stood.

"I don't know what the fuck you're talking about shitty nerd." With that she turned and left him in the park by himself. As she made her way home she thought. It hadn't been the quirks that had changed things, though that had been part of it. It had been the fact that everyone around her began to question her every move when her quirk developed. She was supposed to be the perfect child, good at everything she touched. But everything she touched exploded. Then Deku hadn't gotten a quirk and everyone made fun of him. She'd wanted to fit in, live up to expectations so she'd joined in. At some point it had just become expected of her. She was brash and angry and good at everything but he kept trying, trying to be a hero, trying to beat her at things. It pissed her off to no end. She grumbled to herself as she slammed the door to her house open and made her way to her room, ignoring her mother. She flopped down on her bed and grumbled some more.

Things between them had changed, it was true. They were changing more now but a question she hadn't asked him echoed in her mind, nagging her to find the answer even if she had to do it on her own. Did whoever gave Deku their quirk know it would hurt him like it did? The boy broke bones nearly weekly, it wasn't right. She shook her head. Why should she care? It was just Deku. But as she changed into her pajamas that same nagging voice at the back of her head told her that was exactly why she cared. After all she'd never told him to stop calling her Kacchan even though no one else used the childish nickname anymore. She flopped down onto her bed and decided that for tonight at least it wasn't worth thinking about.


	8. Almost

**Author's Note: Like I said these aren't really in order there will be other chapters that take place before this one but I wanna do the kidnapping. So here goes. I own nothing.**

Almost

If she was honest, she had no idea what happened. One minute she'd been in front of Tokoyami, running behind Todoroki and Shoji who were both carrying people, the next she was wrapped in blue light, unable to move or speak. She couldn't really see what was happening around her either, but she was moving that much she knew. Something must have happened to Tokoyami first, was he in the same light prison she was in? He would probably be relieved that it wasn't in shadow after he'd lost control of Dark Shadow like that earlier. But this could mean only one thing, the villains had what they had come for.

It didn't make sense to her, why they were after her, she wasn't the most powerful person in class though she was near the top of that list. But if they were looking to neutralize a threat to them, they should have gone after Todoroki or maybe Deku. As much as it stung her to admit they were stronger than she was at least when Deku wasn't breaking all his bones using his given quirk, and didn't that still sting. She'd been doing some research when she had time between study sessions to see if she could find any information about the ability to gift a quirk but she'd found nothing. She'd found records of people who could enhance other people's quirks but there had to be one present for it to work. She probably shouldn't be thinking about this now but it wasn't like she had much else to do and that just ate at her. She wasn't a damsel in need of rescue but she couldn't do anything to save herself, someone was getting fried for this.

They had one chance thanks to Aoyama's well placed laser blast nocking both marbles out of the villains mouth. All three of them lunged forwards, but Deku stumbled and fell the pain of his injuries finally catching up to him it seemed. Todoroki ignored him aiming for the closest marble as Shoji did the same. He could reach it, reach her. They wouldn't get away with her. He wasn't going to allow it. He stretched out his hand, the small blue glass ball centimeters from his fingers. But another hand snatched it out of the air before he could manage it. The fingers were long and pale but the visible skin from his wrist up his arm was burned, stapled back together at a Frankenstein like seam. He smiled, his face similarly mutilated, the marble held gently between his thumb and pointer finger.

"So tragic Shoto Todoroki. You missed." He didn't have time to react as his momentum sent him flying from a well placed foot in his path. He skidded back to his feet in time to see the man turn to his vanishing comrade. "Enough, let go of them, we have what we need." The man snapped his fingers complaining about his ruined exit as Tokoyami reformed in Shoji's arms looking confused and slightly scared. But it was nothing to the look on Bakugou's face as she reformed from the blue marble in the villain's hand. That same hand wrapped firmly around her neck but she jerked in his grip, clearly trying to pull free and there was a loud popping sound, similar to the one that happened when she set off her quirk and for a moment Todoroki thought she got the drop on the villain holding her. Then she screamed in pain and the smell of burned skin began to waft through the clearing.

Her scream was quickly joined by Deku's as he scrambled back to his feet and raced forwards. The villain hadn't loosened his grip on her neck but he swore softly, his other hand had come up and wrapped around her waist, securing her more firmly as they both began to sink into the smoking warp gate.

"Kacchan!" The scream echoed around the clearing, the rest of the world seemed to have gone entirely quiet as they all raced forwards again trying to get to the gate before it closed, to do something. Deku screamed again, just her name one more time. They all knew they weren't going to make it in time. The gate had already nearly swallowed her, just her face was visible as if the villains were taunting them with their victory. There were tears of pain in her eyes as they focused on Deku and she bit out one last sentence before the gate swallowed her and closed.

"Stay back, Deku." The gate vanished and Deku slammed into the ground where it had been. They were all silent for a full minute before Deku screamed. Agony and grief and anger all mixing into a cry that echoed around them over and over again. He was sobbing curled in on himself and shaking as Uraraka and Tsu raced into the clearing. Both of them looked around but tears fell from both of their eyes as they realized they had arrived far too late to help.

The rest of the night was a blur, Todoroki couldn't focus on much of anything. He kept flexing his hand. He'd been so close, literal centimeters away from keeping her safe and he'd failed. He couldn't get the pain and panic on her face out of his mind. The smell of burned skin clung to all of their clothes as they were escorted back into the facility where the rest of their class was waiting. Kirishima ran up to them looking at them with so much hope in his eyes it hurt, they clearly hadn't been able to hear Deku screaming all the way back here. But they saw him now, carried by Shoji, sobbing into the larger boy's shirt. Kirishima shook his head in disbelief as the class all began to babble. It took a loud shout from Mr. Aizawa to silence them. 1-B was here too. It looked like almost none of them had gotten out unscathed save for the students already in the facility when the attack began. As usual Deku seemed to have gotten the worst of it with two broken arms, one shattered almost beyond recognition. Shoji was missing one of his hands, he could grow it back once it healed over. Aizawa sighed looking almost beaten, it wasn't a look any of them had seen on him before. Not even after the USJ when he'd almost lost an eye and thus his quirk.

"I need you all to remain calm. We will be loading buses in a few moments to ferry all of you to a nearby hospital." Kirishima turned to him before he could say anything else.

"But what happened! Where's Bakugou!" The class froze as those still conscious realized that, no, the hot head of class 1-A had not returned with any of the student groups or even the pro heroes. "Mandalay said over her telepathy that they were after Kacchan, that's what Midoriya calls Bakugou… She… She's not…" He fell silent as Deku began to sob harder. Todoroki scrubbed at his own face and Shoji looked down at the floor in solemn silence. Aizawa took a deep breath and looked over at Todoroki who scrubbed his face with his hands shaking his head.

"Katsuki Bakugou was taken captive. At the moment that's all we know." The room was silent save for Deku's continued sobbing. Kirishima was shaking. Ashido had burst into tears. Sero looked stunned, Kaminari had almost dropped Jirou who he was helping to put on one of the stretchers the emergency workers were bringing in. Todoroki just felt hollow. Who knew what could be happening to their classmate right this second, the very thought made him feel sick.


	9. Almost: Tempting

**Author's Note: Like I said I'm caught on this so this follows directly after the last chapter. I own nothing.**

Almost: Tempting

Katsuki Bakugou drifted in and out of consciousness, she wasn't sure for how long. All she knew was that she hadn't felt pain like this before. The back of her neck might as well have been on fire. She almost felt like she couldn't breathe. But something cool was placed on her neck as something snapped over her hands, immobilizing them, cutting her off from her quirk, straps around her torso quickly followed. Something else was placed over her face, whoever put it on her was carefully avoiding her neck. A voice cut through the fog of pain in her mind.

"You weren't supposed to hurt her. The boss isn't going to like this." It was a familiar voice but it took her a minute to place it. It was the man from the USJ attack, the one with all the hands on him. Her eyes snapped open and she blinked at the harsh neon lights around her. It took a minute for her vision to focus. She blinked again and swore, though it was muffled by a muzzle just like the one they'd made her wear during the awards ceremony at the sports festival. She was similarly bound to how she had been then, except this time she was sitting down and her neck hurt like it was on fire. The cool feeling returned and she managed to just suppress a groan.

"Sorry about that kid. Didn't mean to hurt you like that." She blinked at a face she didn't recognize. Half of his face was burned and stapled back to itself, as was the skin under his eyes. He was kneeling next to her one hand on the back of her neck, something cold and wet held to her skin, his other hand resting on his knee. She growled muffled obscenities at him, but he just let himself smile and kept holding the ice pack to her burn. "These idiots didn't know that all of your sweat is nitroglycerin, not just at your hands, or I wouldn't have made the mistake of activating my quirk in contact with your skin. I was just trying to get you to hold still. I am sorry."

She couldn't wait for one of them to take off the damn muzzle so she could tell this jackass exactly where he could stick his apologies.

Aizawa shook his head. It had been nearly twelve hours since the attack. Since one of his students had been taken right out from under the noses of a team of pro heroes. It seemed that Katsuki wasn't the only one who'd been taken though. There was no sign or Ragdoll either, just her broken headset. The students had all been taken to a nearby hospital. Many of them had been released already with just minor scrapes and bruises. But Izuku Midoriya had been in and out of consciousness since they brought him in. He'd been alternating between staring at the ceiling and crying, occasionally calling out for Bakugou with the childish nickname he always called her. Nothing he could do about that at the moment.

Jirou, Hagakure and Yaoyorozu were all still unconscious. One from a head wound the other two from the gas, though the doctors said all would be fine. They would be interrogating one of the captured villains in a few minutes which was the only reason he wasn't at the hospital with his students. Principle Nezu and the other teachers would take care of them while he watched this. The cuffs on the boy, he had to be about the same age as the students, were quirk suppressers. He wouldn't be a threat while he was wearing them. He was skinny and short pale with slightly curly hair and a large bruise on his cheek. Tetsutetsu had broken his mask, and without it he seemed smaller. Aizawa glanced to the side as the door opened. It was Toshinori, in his smaller form, but his All Might costume. They were behind one way glass the boy in the other room couldn't see them.

"Catch me up." Aizawa shook his head.

"I'm guessing you've already heard most of it. The training camp was attacked. They took Bakugou." Toshinori nodded.

"How did young Midoriya handle that?" Aizawa shook his head.

"He's not handling much of anything right now, he broke both his arms again. The whole class is reeling. The ones who know don't know what to do about it. They've already been through more than most. Vlad is making sure 1-B gets home safely, since they weren't actually the targets here, just in the wrong place at the wrong time." Toshinori shook his head.

"But why Young Bakugou? It would have made more sense to take Todoroki if they were looking to hurt the pros directly. Taking any student hurts UA, but they say they were specifically targeting Young Bakugou." Aizawa nodded.

"They were. We have multiple students who have told us as much. We haven't been able to get much out of Midoriya, he's been in and out of consciousness. But Todoroki and Shoji told us what happened when the scared one, Dabi, took her. Wherever she is she's hurt. Which isn't good." Toshinori let out a hiss of anger and sympathy.

"How badly?" Aizawa shook his head.

"We won't know how badly until we find her. But Todoroki thinks Dabi was trying to heat up his hand to dissuade her from pulling away." Toshinori's eyes narrowed.

"That would have set off the nitroglycerin in her sweat." Aizawa nodded.

"Likely pretty badly too. She's fire resistant, but it's more concentrated around her hands and arms than anywhere else." Toshinori looked like he was about to speak but Aizawa held up a hand as an officer entered the room they were holding the villain in.

"So you call yourself Mustard huh? Got a real name you'd care to share with us?" The boy twitched and rolled his eyes before speaking.

"Masutado." The officer nodded.

"How old are you Masutado?" The boy fidgeted again.

"Thirteen." Both pro heroes flinched. He was two nearly three years younger than their students. How the hell he'd fallen in with this crowd was a mystery. The officer asked a few more questions before he finally got to the ones that really interested Aizawa. He confirmed that the effects of the gas this villain put out weren't permanent then pulled a photo from the file in his hand.

"Your organization targeted a student in particular. Katsuki Bakugou." The officer held up Bakugou's student ID photo. Matsutado nodded. "Why? None of you seem too fond of heroes so why take a hero in training?" Matsutado snorted.

"Have you seen the kid?" The officer raised an eyebrow. Matsutado shook his head. "You didn't watch the sports festival this year did you? Have you been living under a rock? She's perfect Villain material!" Both teachers bristled, Aizawa swore under his breath. He'd been afraid of this. But Matsutado wasn't finished. "Those so called heroes had to chain her up to give her the freaking medal she won! She's stunningly uncontrollable! And her fight against that gravity girl, so beautiful, so merciless! And not in a creepy way like the chick with the knives. She's like a literal bomb waiting to go off. She should be going off at the so called heroes. Not like they don't already treat her like a villain anyway." Aizawa had heard enough. He needed to talk to Nezu.


	10. Almost: Failed

**Author's Note: Yep Aizawa has had enough but continue forwards we must. I own nothing.**

Always: Failed

These assholes just weren't getting it. She was never going to go dark side, it wasn't going to happen. Why did everyone she met seem to think she had some dark ulterior motive. She was going to be a hero, she was going to pass up All Might. She wasn't going to turn villain even if it killed her. Shigaraki walked forwards slowly, but not towards her. The one in the full mask, Scarface had called him Twice, had released her restraints shortly after making her watch the press conference UA put on and she'd blasted him back. Her free fighting privileges hadn't been revoked. She could still fight and not get in trouble for it, really there were laws in place for circumstances like this too, but she was a bit too busy with the question of her own survival right now to remember everything she'd learned over the past year. The pale man leaned forwards picking up the hand Bakugou had blown off his face and settled back in place. She was sick of his shit. She'd spent the last she guessed it was a day or so maybe more, the sharp toothed blonde behind the bar had fallen asleep a few times along with a few of the others, Lizard and Stupid Glasses being the main offenders, listening to them prattle on and on about how they weren't bad people they were trying to create a more just society by collapsing the one that currently worshiped heroes. The scarred one who'd at one point introduced himself as Dabi had treated the burn on the back of her neck, but said that the dressing would need to be changed soon.

"We may not be able to convince you with words but I know someone who's much better at this type of thing than I am. What do you think of that idea boss?" Bakugou blinked. She had been convinced that he was in charge, childish as he was his was the most dangerous quirk in the room barring maybe Dabi's. She didn't actually know what the blonde did but decaying someone like he'd done to Mr. Aizawa's arm wasn't something to be trifled with. The other villains looked slightly impressed as though they'd been expecting some other reaction to something that had happened. Bakugou had quickly come to the conclusion that these people were all batshit insane. Out of all of them only Dabi seemed even moderately sane, he'd actually explained himself well when he'd apologized for burning her and hadn't been stupid enough to release her himself when Shigaraki had ordered him to. A TV set in the corner that she hadn't noticed crackled with noise. It was set up like a skype screen but it was blurred with static, only the words 'sound only' displayed on the screen.

"That is a very mature decision Tomura Shigaraki. Very well, bring me the girl then." The voice sounded almost proud. Bakugou wanted to swear loudly and colorfully. She needed to get the hell out of here. There was a door behind her but she wasn't sure exactly what she would find on the other side. A street maybe, if she was lucky, close to people. Her face was currently being plastered all over the news after the press conference. Of course they would never think to look for her here, wherever here was. But she hadn't expected the principle of UA to be that clueless about everything that was happening. It was concerning to say the least. Or was it… she wasn't quite sure but she had more immediate issues to deal with as Shigaraki turned her way again.

"Kurogiri, Compress, put her back to sleep. And this time try not to burn her." If that had been meant to be comforting it wasn't, not in the slightest. She backed away slightly, there was no way for her to escape, unless she let off a big blast and made a break for the door. There was no guarantee she would make it there though. But she couldn't just not try as Compress, the man in the ridiculous mask and top hat, stepped closer. Then there was a knock at the door.

Within moments there were four pro heroes in the room, all the villains restrained, and apparently there were more on the ground below along with what seemed to be the entire police force decked out in SWAT gear. Bakugou let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding as All Might stepped over to her. She was shaking slightly but tried not to let anyone see. The last thing she needed was for a bunch of pros to see her as a scared little kid. Of course, All Might took that moment to comment.

"I am sorry Young Bakugou! This has likely been a terrifying experience." Bakugou shook her head maybe a bit too vigorously her neck gave a painful throb under the bandage Dabi had applied. Her hand flying to it wasn't missed by any of the pro heroes who'd been briefed by Erasure Head on the possible injuries she could have.

"I wasn't scared!" There was defiance in her eyes but a slight tremble in her voice that gave her away as Shigaraki began to rage. It didn't take things long to go back to complete shit though. Out of nowhere black liquid appeared disgorging more of the things like the one that had been present during the USJ attack, Nomus. But Kurogiri was still out cold it shouldn't have been possible.

For half a second Bakugou thought she was going to be sick. She tried to fight it, she was standing right next to All Might, she wasn't going to puke on his shoes when nothing had fucking happened yet. But the feeling forced its way up her throat and out her mouth without her consent and she gagged as the same black tar that had transported the Nomu burst forth from between her lips. She thought she heard All Might scream out her name as she swore and slipped backwards through another portal. She was starting to genuinely despise warp quirks.

Deku was about ready to run with the others, they had to find someone who could help the downed heroes. They were all pretty terrified at this point. Iida was shaking, Todoroki's breath had become visible. Yaoyarozu was trembling and Kirishima was chewing on his lip. They had all seen Best Jeanist go down, none of them were sure if he was even still alive and the villain who had done that was still out there. The villain who had stolen Ragdoll's quirk. This had to be the one All Might had told him about, this had to be All for One. They had to make a break for it while they still could. Then a new noise caught Deku's attention. A hacking retching cough that definitely hadn't been there before. He had to know if Best Jeanist had survived. So taking a deep breath he peered over the wall they were hiding behind and froze anew.

"Kacchan?!" The others whirled to get a look over the wall. Deku was right of course. Bakugou was standing not four feet from the villain who had just taken down four pro heroes, likely killing at least one, without even breaking a sweat. She was gasping and coughing like she couldn't get enough air into her lungs.

She was still dressed in the grey sweatpants and black shirt she'd worn when she'd been captured nearly three days ago. Her hair was still up in a messy bun though it was starting to fall apart at this point and there was a large bandage around her neck. As they watched the villain approach their friend, helpless to do more, she tore it away like it was too tight against her skin and they all let out a low hiss at the sight of the wound on the back of her neck. It was in the near perfect shape of a hand wrapping itself around her neck. It was burned there, likely would always be if the condition of the wound even from this distance was any indication. Black oozing liquid began to drop from the sky and the villains who had attacked the training camp materialized all coughing save for Dabi and Kurogiri, who were unconscious, and Shigaraki who was on his knees in front of the man who looked to be staring at Bakugou with what might have been reverence.

This was the closest they had been to their friend in three days and they were still no nearer to rescuing her.


	11. Almost: Out Of Reach

**Author's Note: I should be sleeping… I own nothing.**

Almost: Out of Reach

All thought of leaving now seemed to have vanished though they were all still trembling. None of them could leave Bakugou alone with this monster. All for One stepped closer to her and she took a half step back. Even she could tell something was off about this guy and she hadn't even spotted the downed heroes yet, though Mount Lady was going to be hard to miss once she got her bearings.

"I am sorry about this Bakugou. It wasn't our intention for you to get hurt or be caused any discomfort." She growled at him around another cough as he turned his attention off of her much to Izuku's relief. All for One turned to Shigaraki where he still knelt on the ground. "You have failed again Tomura. But you cant let this discourage you. Just try again. I have brought all of your associates here, away from the heroes. Even the child. You seemed to think she was such an important piece in your game after all. Do it over as many times as you need to." All for One was still talking but Izuku's mind was going a mile a minute. There had to be a way to get Kacchan out even though she was surrounded by villains, he wasn't going to leave her behind again. The looks on Todoroki and Kirishima's faces told him they weren't leaving without her either. Iida had set his jaw and grabbed Yaoyarozu's hand to steady her. They'd be with him if he could figure out how to get her out.

Once All for One had forced open a warp gate Bakugou had made up her mind. There was no way in hell she was going to be somebody else's pawn in a bigger game. She was a hero damn it, so what if she wasn't licensed yet. She wouldn't go out like a bitch, she would make it out of here or she would die trying. She squared up as Compress shrunk the still unconscious Dabi into a marble and spoke.

"We need to get out of here while All Might is distracted. Somebody grab the kid!" explosions flared at her hands daring them to come close and try to take her. The girl was the first one to rush her, knives pulled from under her skirts. Bakugou let off an explosion and flipped over the other blonde, singing her sweater as she went but it didn't slow anyone down. She knew she could take the blonde in one on one, or at least she hoped. Lizard Face and Stupid Glasses might take her more time but she might be able to take them. She knew she couldn't get close to Compress, not without ending up as a marble. That was not happening again. She also couldn't get close to Shigaraki not unless she wanted to be turned to dust today and she really wasn't in the mood. But there were too many of them for her to realistically take on alone. And as long as she was still in danger All Might couldn't focus on his fight.

The plan was certifiably insane, he knew that but if it worked then Kacchan would be safe and All Might could focus on taking down All for one. It all hinged on Kirishima though. Izuku wasn't an idiot he knew that Kacchan wouldn't take his help if offered, her pride wouldn't allow it. It was her biggest flaw. But somehow Kirishima had managed to wiggle his way under Kacchan's skin and find himself a comfortable spot there. He had become a genuine friend to her, he'd overheard Kacchan talking to her mother about him describing him as the brother she wished she never had. But she listened to him, and that was what they needed.

"Come on!" The shout echoed around the battle field and for a paralyzing second Izuku thought it wasn't going to work as Shigaraki lunged at Kacchan but then the explosion went off. It was massive, launching Bakugou skywards. Her hand slammed into Kirishima's and she grinned.

"You idiots!" Kirishima let out a long relieved laugh as he hardened his hand around hers determined not to let go until they were back on the ground.

Todoroki let out a small sigh of relief at Kirishima's laugh. They had her. He and Yaoyarozu made their way around the battlefield quickly, carefull to stay out of sight but all eyes were still on the four sailing through the air. They hadn't set up a rendezvous spot so once they were far enough away from the battle Todoroki pulled his cellphone out of his pocket and dialed quickly. It didn't take Midoriya long to pick up.

"You have her?" Yaoyorozu filed away Todoroki's relaxing stance for later analisis once they were all safe back with their class. "Is she alright?"

Deku wasn't sure how to answer that question. There were marks of her captivity all over Kacchan. Slight bruising around her face formed the faint outline of an ill fitted muzzle. Wrists rubbed raw spoke of restraints there as well, likely around her whole hands if the villains knew anything about her quirk. The burn on the back of her neck was less prominent now that her hair had fallen completely out of its bun but she kept wincing when her hair brushed her neck. She had a few fresh bruises and cuts from her fight with the Vanguard moments ago.

"She should be. We're at the train station." It hadn't taken them long to get their either. Iida had raced them away from the fight as soon as they'd touched down, Deku taking the brunt of the landing. Kirishima was still grinning like a mad man refusing to let go of Bakugou's hand even as she rolled her eyes at him and insisted that she'd only let herself be saved so All Might wouldn't have to worry.

"I could have taken them." She insisted even as she winced again. She was shaking too. It was almost unnoticeable under her bravado but Deku had known her too long to miss it.

Even on screen the fight between All Might and All for One was brutal to watch. It didn't help when he was forced to revert back to his true form. Deku flinched violently at that and Bakugou sent him a calculating look. She'd seen that blonde man around the neighborhood too often over the past year for it to be a coincidence. All Might had taken a liking to Izuku Midoriya, taking him on as a kind of protégé. It would follow that he had a hand in giving Deku his quirk.

The fight seemed to last forever but in the end All Might stood victorious, but depowered. The civilians around them began to celebrate as Izuku cried. He wasn't the only one though. Many people had burst into happy tears at the defeat of the villain. Todoroki and Yaoyaruzu raced up to them both looking delighted to see Bakugou alive and mostly well. Iida was the one who pushed them into action as the celebration and tears continued around them. They needed to get Bakugou off the streets. As much as she raged at him for it he had a point. Shigaraki had made it clear that he'd singled her out as an important piece in whatever game he was playing. Weather or not he would continue his game with All for One out of the picture at last was anyone's guess but Bakugou's gut told her they hadn't seen the last of him. So the small group of students made their way to the nearest police station.


	12. Almost: Recovered

**Author's Note: Those of you who have been following me for a while know I like to do the aftermath that isn't really shown in shows and shit after people are hurt/traumatized. Here's some of that. I own nothing.**

Almost: Recovered

The police station was a wash of activity. As soon as they'd arrived they were all spirited into a room away from the noise while some calls were made to reassure everyone that the kidnapped UA student, along with her recently disappeared classmates, had been safely returned into police hands, though not entirely unscathed. Bakugou noticed none of this though. She was exhausted, the past few days finally catching up to her as they all sat sprawled over couches and chairs in what had to be the lounge. Kirishima sat on her left her feet kicked up into his lap. She'd never admit it but she needed contact right now, from someone she knew wouldn't hurt her. That didn't seem to be an issue though as Todoroki had sat down on her right and stayed there even after she spit a few choice words at him. He was warm on this side which she had to admit was kind of nice. Deku hadn't bothered with a chair instead flopping down on the floor in front of the couch, his head leaning back near Kirishima's knee as he began to snore.

Iida and Yaoyarozu had taken over the love seat and were leaning against each other talking quietly. Bakugou grabbed an empty paper cup from the table where there was the detritus of an impromptu snack session the police had set up for them and crumpled it up before throwing it with stunning accuracy at Yaoyarozu. It bounced off the other girl's shoulder and she turned.

"Do you have a hair tie?" Yaoyarozu blinked at her for a moment before nodding and producing one from the skin on her wrist. It was a black and orange scrunchie but Bakugou was too tired to complain. She grumbled as she shifted trying to pull her hair up without bugging her still injured neck too badly. She swore under her breath as a large section fell from her hand right onto the burn. Todoroki took the scrunchie from her and she snapped at him but he ignored her as he expertly twisted her hair up into a bun, away from her neck. She grumbled but settled back down on the slightly stiff cushions, still leaning on Todoroki.

Iida and Yaoyarozu went back to their conversation after another once over of the group. But Bakugou had gone back to ignoring them. She was so freaking tired. Before she could really think about it she had fallen asleep her back against Todoroki's left side, her feet still in Kirishima's lap. That was how Detective Tsukauchi found them about an hour later when he and several heroes arrived. Deku was well and truly snoring by now. Iida had drifted off at some point his head against Yaoyarozu's shoulder. Bakugou was still asleep as well, her head tilted forwards in a position the detective doubted would be comfortable but with the burn on her neck he doubted anything was exactly comfortable at the moment. Aizawa put a hand on his shoulder as he opened his mouth to speak.

"Do you know how often my students are actually quiet? Let them rest a bit longer, we have a few more calls to make anyway." Tsukauchi nodded and the pair of them left as Kirishima grinned at Yaoyarozu.

"You know if I didn't know better I'd say he like us or something." Yaoyarozu snorted slightly on her laugh, trying not to wake Iida.

It took the adults a while to finish all their calls to the point where they couldn't put off talking to the kids anymore. They spoke to Yaoyarozu and Iida first, after the boy was done apologizing profusely for falling asleep on his classmate. The two of them told them everything that had happened, from Kirishima's idea of going after Bakugou even though the pros were already working on it to how they had escaped the battlefield with the blonde.

They were both relieved to find out that Best Jeanist and the other heroes that All for One had attacked before summoning the League of Villains had survived though they were all pretty severely injured. All Might was in a hospital at the moment being treated for his injuries but All for One had been safely transported to Tartarus. The only problem was there was no sign of the League. Aizawa sent them back to the lounge where he stepped over to the couch and very gently laid a hand on Bakugou's shoulder. Her reaction was instantaneous, which might have been why Aizawa had activated his quirk before touching her. She lashed out, smashing her arms into his, easily breaking his hold as she rolled off the couch, accidently smacking Deku in the back of the head jolting him from sleep too. Aizawa raised both his hands in surrender.

"You're safe Bakugou." She was breathing harshly as she blinked the sleep from her eyes. But she spotted Aizawa after a moment and her stance relaxed though her shaking had redoubled. Deku was rubbing the back of his head and Todoroki and Kirishima, who had both fallen asleep as well, had jolted awake the minute Bakugou had moved were taking deep breaths to calm themselves down. Ice frosted over Todoroki's side of the couch and Kirishima had gone rocklike but both calmed when they spotted Bakugou standing in front of them. Aizawa held his hand out to the side and Tsukauchi deposited a bright orange blanket into his hand. Carefully, slowly Aizawa stepped over to Bakugou and swung the blanket around her shoulders.

His student was in shock, that much was clear to Aizawa as he blinked and allowed his power to release its hold on Bakugou. She might try to act tough but this attack had shaken her to her core. He really couldn't blame her, it really wasn't her fault. But what most people didn't seem to remember was that even though she had an extremely powerful quirk and was a student at UA she was still a child. Fifteen years old and already faced with some of the most dangerous people he'd ever met, all of whom seemed to believe she belonged with them instead of where she truly belonged. He stayed where he was while his other students fretted behind him. He held up a hand to silence them and they complied.

"Do you know where you are Bakugou?" She glared at him though it lacked some of the usual fire in her eyes.

"I'm not an idiot Mr. Aizawa." He nodded.

"I know that. You're in the top percentile of my class for a reason. Please answer the question." She did, correctly naming the station and pulling the blanket close. She looked small wrapped in the bright orange fabric.

"Good. The police are insisting you stay in protective custody for the time being but we're gonna be escorting all of you to a hospital in a few minutes." She nodded at him slightly still trying to look like she wasn't shaking. It wasn't really working but it seemed to have slowed down at least. Iida piped up behind Aizawa as Deku, Todoroki and Kirishima stepped over to Bakugou. She didn't even try to protest which told him worlds of how bad she was doing emotionally.

"All of us sir?" Aizawa nodded.

"Yes all of you. The police want all of you to have a once over and stay together until your parents can be contacted." Yaoyarozu sounded slightly strained as she spoke up.

"Are we in trouble?" Aizawa almost cracked a smile, but not quite.

"No. None of you harmed another with your quirk. There's no law against using your quirk to help in a rescue situation. It's actually considered an honorable deed by most." They all let out a sigh as Kirishima and Todoroki managed to coax Bakugou back to the couch. Aizawa nodded.

"We'll be leaving in a few minutes, there will be a full police escort and several heroes with us as well." Bakugou let out a sound that might have been a derisive snort but might have been a half bitten back sob. Aizawa couldn't tell. SO he plopped a box of tissues down on the table in front of them and left to finish preparations.

The ride to the hospital was a blur. Even Deku was too tired to get too excited about the heroes that were accompanying them. He'd managed to fall back asleep in the front seat next to Aizawa who was driving the van that the teens were in. Iida and Yaoyarozu were sitting in the middle and Bakugou was in the back sandwiched between Kirishima and Todoroki, who'd again placed his warmer half to the explosion user. She was still wrapped in the shock blanket the bags under her eyes looking prominent as the sun began to rise.

The hospital split them up for their checkups and the police took that opportunity to finish getting statements from everyone but Bakugou. They didn't want to wait too long but no one really wanted to bring the still quite fresh pain to the surface. Tsukauchi ended up being the one to question her with Aizawa in the room for her own comfort though that didn't seem to be doing much to help as she told them what had happened staring down at her toes. She had showered and changed into a hospital gown. Her neck and wrists were bandaged as were the few scratches up and down her arms. She looked pale against the stark white sheets, bruises from her fight with the League standing out in dark contrast against her skin. She confirmed what Mustard had told them, that the League had taken her to try and turn her Villain. Apparently it had been Shigaraki's idea, he saw her as a useful piece in his game, according to All for One's words anyway. What that actually meant especially now was anyone's guess.

Soon after they were done with their questioning Bakugou succumbed to the pain meds and passed back out. Her parents arrived shortly after that, yelling and cussing from the nurses station alerting Aizawa to their presence.

"I would like to see my fucking daughter who was just rescued from being god damn kidnapped!" The nurse looked close to tears as the blonde yelled at her. Aizawa cleared his throat.

"You must be Mitsuki Bakugou." The blonde whirled on him. The resemblance between mother and daughter was easy to spot. They had the same eyes, same extremely clear skin, same loud brash attitude and same color hair, though the curl in Katsuki's hair seemed to have come from her father who was standing next to his wife trying to calm her down.

"What about it!" Aizawa nodded slightly, this explained so much about one of his more troublesome students.

"I'm Shota Aizawa." He got no further as the blonde stepped up to him.

"Oh you're Katsuki's favorite teacher! Do you know where we can find her?" That took him aback a bit. He didn't think he'd ever heard any of his students, let alone their parents describe him as their favorite anything before. But he shrugged it off for now and led the pair into the hospital room, pausing to introduce them to the officers on duty outside the door, explaining that no Katsuki wasn't in any immediate danger as far as they could tell but they weren't taking any chances. She was still asleep when they entered. Tears sprung up in Mitsuki's eyes as her husband pulled up the two chairs to the side of Katsuki's bed and guided his wife into one. The doctor rapped on the door softly.

"Ah you must be Miss Bakugou's parents. We were hoping you'd arrive soon." Masaru Bakugou nodded slightly as his wife took their daughter's limp hand.

"We tried to get here sooner but the roads are backed up with the rescue efforts and everything that's been happening." The Doctor nodded.

"Of course. Well I'm happy to say that your daughter will be fine." He glanced at Aizawa who made to move for the door but Mitsuki's voice stopped him.

"I'd actually prefer it if you stayed please. Better to have a hero in the room than not at this point." Aizawa nodded and leaned against the wall. The doctor nodded and continued.

"She has some minor bruising, some small lacerations that appear to be from her fight in Kamino. The biggest concern at the moment is the burn on her neck. It's going to need a lot of care. And it is going to scar, no way around it. Erasure Head tells me your daughter has an explosion quirk?" Mitsuki nodded as her husband explained the finer points of his daughter's quirk. The doctor nodded.

"One of the villains who took your daughter has been documented to have a fire quirk. My guess would be that he activated his quirk too close to her skin." Aizawa nodded.

"It fits with what Todoroki and Shoji told us about her capture." Mitsuki scrubbed her face and turned back to Aizawa.

"The detective I spoke to on the phone said a group of her classmates rescued her?" Aizawa nodded. "Is there any chance I could speak to them? I'd like to thank them for saving her." Aizawa shrugged.

"I don't see a problem with that. I'll have one of the officers see if they can find them."

It didn't take the officer long to track down the other kids. They all crowded around the door Izuku peaking in before being yanked inside and wrapped in a bear hug by Kacchan's mother who was babbling about how brave they'd all been in saving her daughter. Kirishima was treated to a similar experience, since Mitsuki seemed to know him from his study sessions with Bakugou. Iida and Yaoyarozu introduced themselves and were hugged as well. Todoroki hung back by the door but Mitsuki was having none of that. She pulled him into a hug and he froze, standing stock still before melting into the embrace like he'd never been hugged before.

It occurred to Izuku that he might not have been in a long time with everything he knew about Endeavor and his mistreatment of his son. Mitsuki thanked them in classic Bakugou style with quite a lot of loud swearing until a groan from the bed stopped them all cold. Katsuki was blinking eyes slightly glassy from the pain meds. She blinked around and spotted her father first.

"Dad?" Her voice was scratchy with sleep and her classmates turned away at the sight of slight tears in her eyes as her mother raced to her side as well. She blinked at her for a moment before speaking again, still in that same slow scratchy way.

"Mom?" That did it, Mitsuki burst into sobs and wrapped her daughter in her arms, her husband holding them both as Izuku began to tear up as well. It had been so long since he'd heard Kacchan call her mother Mom instead of Hag. All of them seemed to realize that they were intruding on something and made their way out but as Todoroki stepped out he heard a new sob join Mitsuki Bakugou's.


	13. Neighbors

**Author's Note: Dorm Time! Like I said I'll likely do more between where I started and the kidnapping but I wanna watch a few more episodes first so yeah this is just a thing now… I own nothing.**

Neighbors

The announcement of UA building Dorms was taken with mixed reactions but Katsuki wasn't worried. Her mother had made it clear that she should keep pursuing her dream of being a hero, kick the asses of those who accused her of being a villain and take on the world along the way. Inko Midoriya had apparently taken quite a bit more persuading and upon hearing that Baugou was worried that maybe Deku was going to get pulled from UA in favor of something less dangerous. In the end though Inko relented and Katsuki quietly wondered why she'd been so worried about Deku possibly getting forced to give up his dream. She shouldn't be, she'd always been one of the first in line to tell him he couldn't do it. Of course that was back when he didn't have a quirk. It kind of all made sense now. She'd managed to get the full story of her rescue out of Kirishima not too long after she was released from the hospital, directly into what amounted to protective house arrest. That had almost driven her insane but dorm life promised to be something new. But Kirishima had described All for One talking about stealing Ragdoll's quirk and the missing piece of the puzzle slotted into place in her brain.

All Might's interest in Quirkless Deku, his inability to control the power, it all slotted into place in her head like a well oiled machine. Had All Might been the first wielder of this given quirk? She didn't know but she would guess probably not. But why he'd chosen to share it with Deku was still a mystery. One she intended to discover the answers to. But that could wait for the moment as she hefted two boxes into the empty room. Her mother followed her carrying another two and grinned around the room. It was about the same size as her room back home. There was a bed in the corner by the window, a desk set off to the side, a bookshelf, and a chest of drawers all in UA colors, blue and white. She set her boxes down on her desk and sighed slightly. She was still twitchy.

It had been a little over a week since she'd been rescued from the League of Villains by Kirishima, Deku, Todoroki, Iida and Yaoyaruzu. She was getting better about not jumping at every sudden noise but she'd set the couch on fire back home when her father had accidently dropped a glass in the kitchen. She hadn't meant to but her every instinct had screamed at her that something bad had happened and she needed to act. She'd grudgingly called Aizawa who'd left a phone number with her. She'd almost lost an eardrum when Present Mic answered the phone, god knew what was going on there but she really didn't want to know. He'd told her it was natural and many pros experienced it and worse after experiences like the one she'd gone through. She'd snorted at him and hung up but the words were actually something of a comfort. She hadn't seen anyone else in class since her rescue though she'd received a few get well cards and some flowers while she was in the hospital. The police had wanted to keep her visitors to a minimum for safety sake which made sense. Kirishima had visited her once she was released and so had Deku and his mother but that was it. She didn't want to say that she was disappointed because then it would look like she cared but she felt a slight twinge in her heart when she thought about it for too long.

There was some good news though, she had one less asshole to deal with at school. Apparently Mineta hadn't been invited to return for the second year at UA. According to a text she'd gotten from Kirishima it was a mix of his failing grades and his actions throughout the year. The incident at the hot springs had been the last straw. She honestly was kind of relieved. The fucker had been creepy. They were getting a new student. A transfer from one of the other classes but at the moment that was all they knew. Her father set down her last few boxes and nodded around.

"Well this looks nice. And there's a private bathroom on this floor, for the girls." Katsuki rolled her eyes and jumped slightly at a squeal that echoed through the hallway. A flash of pink was all the warning she got before Ashido barreled into her room a wide grin on her face. None of them were in uniform today, it hadn't been required of them on move in day. The other girl was in a pair of tight blue leggings and a dress with the image of a galaxy splayed across it. She grinned and raced into the room. Bakugou was glad she'd paused at the door it gave her a precious second to brace for the hug Ashido assaulted her with.

"We're neighbors!"

"Fuck." Her mother smacked her lightly upside the head and introduced herself to Ashido. After some grudging hugs Mitsuki Bakugou took her husband and left promising that she'd bring Katsuki anything she'd forgotten. Ashido flopped down on the bed, which didn't have sheets or a blanket on it yet and stared at Bakugou.

"What Raccoon Eyes?" Ashido grinned.

"I missed you girl! We were all so worried about you! But Kirishima kept us updated. I do gotta ask though, why the scarf? It's so freaking hot outside!" Bakugou froze her hand flying to the soft purple scarf around her neck. Truth be told it was way too warm to be wearing it but she didn't want to take it off.

The doctors had been right, the burn on the back of her neck had been a pain to take care of, would continue to be for a bit actually as it was only mostly healed, though it no longer needed a bandage over it. It was scaring already though. An ugly thing in the shape of Dabi's hand where he'd grabbed her by the neck when he'd taken her through Kurogiri's portal. She had a few more minor ones on her arms as well from her fight in Kamino, the blonde bitch really liked throwing knives.

"What I'm not allowed to look good! My old man works in fashion, a girl's gotta look nice sometimes." That did the trick. Ashido went off about how she'd never mentioned that in fact both of her parents worked in the fashion industry. Bakugou couldn't help but wonder why Kirishima hadn't told them about her scar. She wasn't going to be able to hide it once classes started up again. The doctor had ordered her to keep her hair out of it for a while, even recommended that she cut it short to be less of a hassle but she'd shot that idea down quickly, choosing instead to keep her hair up in a bun. She thought as she began unpacking one of her boxes of clothes into the chest of drawers and closet. Ashido was still talking but it was just white noise to her at the moment.

Kirishima wasn't the only one who knew about her scar. Todoroki knew, but him keeping quiet wasn't anything new. He was a quiet person in general though he'd sent her flowers and a get well card while she was still in the hospital. Iida wasn't one to get in anyone else's business unless it could reflect badly on the class. Yaoyarozu was nice enough that she wouldn't mention it. And of course there was Deku who would feel bad about it regardless and definitely wouldn't mention it. Besides that Shoji had been there when she'd been injured but they didn't know each other very well so she had no idea what he would do, likely nothing if he knew what was good for him. And Tokoyami who had been half conscious when she'd been taken having also just been released from a marble.

She rolled her eyes in Ashido's direction as the other girl blew a kiss her way before scampering out of the room and back to her own. She'd managed to unpack one full box before there was a soft tap at her door. She turned and nodded to Yaoyarozu. She was wearing a red floaty top and black shorts with matching sandals.

"May I come in?" Bakugou nodded as she pulled a few books out of one of the boxes her father had brought up.

"Why not? Racoon Eyes didn't even bother asking." Yaoyarozu's smile was hesitant as she stepped inside and took a seat on the still unmade bed. She was quiet for a moment.

"How are you doing?" Bakugou shrugged as she arranged her books on one of the shelves.

"I'm ok." Yaoyarozu frowned slightly but let the short answer slide for the moment.

"I like your scarf." Bakugou shrugged again, her hand going to her neck to rub the skin next to the scar.

"Needed a way to hide the scar." Yaoyarozu stood and stepped over to her but made no attempt to touch her for which she was grateful.

"Scars are nothing to be ashamed of. Iida and I were talking about it over the past week." Bakugou rolled her eyes.

"So now you're talking about me behind my back?" There was only a slight bite to her words. Yaoyarozu shook her head.

"Actually we were talking about what happened to Iida's brother." Bakugou's indignation melted. Tensi Iida had nearly been killed by Stain, the Hero Killer, left without the use of his legs and thus his quirk. She could only imagine what kind of scaring the man had endured. Yaoyarozu continued before Bakugou could ask why she'd brought it up. "Apparently he told Tenya that the scaring was just proof that he survived, that he was stronger than what happened to him." Bakugou let a small smile curve up the corner of her mouth.

"So you and Specs are on a first name basis now?" Yaoyarozu went as red as her shirt and Bakugou let out a snort. Then she shook her head. "I'm… I'm gonna be ok Yaoyarozu." She paused again looking for the right words. With a huff she stepped over to her door and closed it. "Look, what's about to be said does not leave this room or I will set you on fire."

"Alright."

"I… I'm not fine. I know that. But I'll get there. Aizawa is forcing me to see the school counselor, once a week. I'm not jumping at every shadow anymore. I will be ok. It's just gonna take some time. And I'll get used to the scar. It's not pretty but I'll get used to it." Yaoyarozu nodded and smiled slightly.

"Thank you Bakugou. I know this must have been hard for you to share with me." Bakugou rolled her eyes.

"Yeah well don't go spreading it around. I got a reputation to keep up." Yaoyarozu smiled slightly and nodded.

"I promise." She stepped to the door and paused. "I have been wondering something though. How come you call everyone a nickname but me?" Bakugou rolled her eyes.

"I only call people I respect by name." Yaoyarozu grinned.

"Oh, I thought it was because you didn't like me." Bakugou rolled her eyes.

"Do you want a nickname Ponytail?" Yaoyarozu grinned wider.

"I wouldn't mind it. I'm glad you're going to be ok. But if you need anything I am across the hall. You've got Ashido as one neighbor and Uraraka on the other side." Bakugou nodded. She had a feeling that the placement had been intentional. Those three girls were arguably the strongest other than herself of the girls anyway. The boy's floor was just below them. Yaoyarozu fished in her bag and handed Bakugou a floor plan of the building.

"Aizawa gave this to me for you." Bakugou nodded slightly. It looked like Deku's room was just under hers, Todoroki's next to that. The other hero course girls were on the level above theirs, their boys above that. She studied the plan and nodded. It was a good setup, with the gen ed students and business course students on the top floor. If they were attacked, assuming it came from the ground floor, the hero course students would be the first line of defense. Each year had its own building, though they were all next to each other and each had at least two teachers in residence. Theirs were Present Mic and Erasure Head, she wasn't going near that with a ten foot pole though.

There was a knock at her door and she opened it to find Jirou and Hagakure standing there with Tsu and Uraraka. The gravity user grinned and waved.

"There you are Yaoyarozu we were going to go looking for you next! We're all going to check out the rest of the building and meet our new classmate." None of them seemed put out that Mineta had been booted from the program. Bakugou sighed and left her unpacking for later and followed the others down to the shared common floor. There were a few of those as well. One for every class, fully equipped with a stocked kitchen and living area. The boys were already there and Kirishima bounced over to Bakugou quickly followed by Sero and Kaminari. She was enveloped in a group hug as the boys blustered about how worried they'd been. Ashido leapt into the pile knocking them all to the floor. Deku snorted as Bakugou pulled herself out of the bottom of the pile. A hand reached out to her. She looked up and spotted Todoroki reaching out to her. She snorted and grabbed hold of his hand, pulling herself free of the pile. She didn't notice that her scarf had caught on Kirishima's elbow until it pulled off all the way and several of the girls let out a gasp. Her hand flew to the healing scar and she snatched her scarf back from Kirishima who looked horribly guilty. She wrapped it back around her neck hiding the scar from view.

"Aren't we supposed to be meeting the newest asshole in our class?" She barked out desperate for the attention to be on anything but her at the moment. Aizawa cleared his throat from the doorway.

"Yes that was the plan Bakugou. Class, as I'm sure many of you have already heard Mineta has been expelled." There were a few whispers here and there but no one seemed overly surprised. "He failed multiple tests and his behavior was unacceptable. Know that I will not hesitate to expel others if they don't meet the standers I have come to expect from this class. On that note meet your new classmate." A figure stepped out from behind Aizawa. He had spikey purple hair and bags under his eyes like he hadn't gotten a good sleep in weeks.

"Hitoshi Shinsou meet class 1-A, class 1-A Hitoshi Shinsou." Deku lit up like a Christmas tree and began bouncing excitedly. Bakugou slipped to the back of the crowd as the class began to introduce themselves properly. She felt several pairs of eyes follow her up the stairs but ignored it.


	14. Invisible

**Author's Note: So now that that's done I can go back to some other things that happen before the kidnapping. I own nothing.**

Invisible

Ashido had been attempting to corner Bakugou since the dace showcase. The girl had been more prickly ever since then and avoided her friends, except for Kirishima but he was insanely difficult to avoid, especially since she'd already made a promise to tutor him. But he didn't tease her about the ballet. Instead he brought it up once, commenting that it was cool that she had gotten extra training like that before dropping the subject entirely. She'd raged at him for a bit but let it drop herself after a while. Ashido though was persistent. She didn't manage to corner her until after the sports festival was done though. It was a few days later, Bakugou was still fuming about it though.

She'd won, but it hadn't been real. Todoroki had used his fire on Deku, displaying it for the first time in her memory but he'd cut it off with her. Had he been going easy on her because she was a girl? She'd tried arguing with the teachers about the win, she didn't want it if it was being handed to her on a silver platter, but none of them had listened to her. Instead they'd humiliated her, trying her up for the awards ceremony. To say she was angry about the whole situation was a gross understatement. She was so angry she had almost forgotten that the others knew about her forced hobby. Then Ashido had found her.

"Bakugou! Excellent I've been trying to talk to you about this since before the Sports Festival." The bright pink girl grabbed hold of Bakugou's arm and grinned.

"What do you want Racoon Eyes?" The other girl let the name slide and smiled wider if that was possible.

"Hagakure and I were both interested in that ballet program you were a part of. You gotta tell me all about it." Bakugou bristled.

"What's to tell. My hag mother forced me into it when I was five. Said it would be character building or some shit. And I never quit so I stayed with the damn thing to the end. The program is only for people five to sixteen." Ashido pouted.

"Aww we were kind of hoping we could join too." Bakugou shrugged.

"Too fucking bad for you." Ashido's pout disappeared.

"Oh but you could show us some moves!" Before she knew what was happening Bakugou was being dragged off by Ashido in search of Hagakure.

She honestly had no idea how she'd managed to get roped into this but somehow she found herself in the open gym with Hagakure and Ashido showing them some basic ballet steps. At one point Ashido was reduced to a giggling mess by a comment Bakugou made about Hagakure making a good choice to wear long sleeves and tights so that she could correct her movements without too much trouble.

"I mean I have to be seen somehow." Hagakure sighed and seemed to slump down slightly. "It's really not fun being invisible all the time." Ashido sobered and Bakugou frowned before grabbing the invisible girl by the elbow. Classes were done for the day anyway, she might as well. Ashido followed looking confused as Bakugou whipped out her phone and texted her mother. 'Brining someone over, leave out your makeup kit.'

"Where are we going?" Hagakure asked sounding nervous.

"My house. Stop asking stupid questions." Ashido followed them and in a little bit they reached the Bakugou residence. The house was empty but there was a large metal case on the coffee table. Finally dropping the invisible girl's arm Bakugou popped open the case and began to dig. Ashido sat down next to Hagakure looking around. The condo was nice, but her attention was drawn away from that as Bakugou laid out several different colors of foundation and looked at Hagakure.

"Pick a color." After hesitating for a moment Hagakure picked up a foundation and handed it over to bakugou who pulled a hair tie out of the case and told her to pull her hair out of her face. The invisible girl complied and Bakugou pulled a brush out of the case and set to work. She started at the collar of Hagakure's shirt and worked her way up her neck and onto her face, working entirely by touch. She got an even coating over the other girl's skin and Ashido's eyes went wide at what Bakugou was doing, a grin spreading over her face.

"Wipe the stupid look off your fucking face Racoon Eyes. Nobody wants to be invisible all the time." Ashido drew two fingers across her mouth as if closing a zipper and began to investigate the contents of the case as Bakugou finished up with the foundation. She smacked Ashido's hand away from the case and pulled out an eyeshadow pallet. This time she didn't ask for Hagakure's opinion instead telling the other girl to close her eyes. She complied, grinning like a madman. She had a nice smile, even though the inside of her mouth was still invisible. The whole process took about an hour and a half, Bakugou insisting on using temporary color in the other girl's hair, which was longer than Ashido had expected. Ashido had been sneaking pictures of the process throughout it and sending them to her group chat with the other girls. Bakugou had never given her number to the rest of the class so she wasn't a part of it but the other irls were a bit stunned that Bakugou was doing something so nice for the other girl without any prompting from anyone.

"There." Bakugou held up a mirror and Hagakure gasped. She hadn't seen her own face since she was four and had started to fade from sight. She squealed with delight and tackled Bakugou in a hug. The other girl swore and growled as Ashido snapped another picture.

"We have to take more pictures!" Bakugou scoffed.

"Whatever, do it somewhere else though. I got fucking homework. That will all wash off in the shower, the hair may take some scrubbing." Hagakure nodded her hair bouncing as she grinned wide again, red painted lips curving upwards. Ashido grinned as Bakugou walked them to the door.

"Who knew you had a heart under all those explosions."

"Fuck off Racoon Eyes."


	15. Terror

**Author's Note: This is one I've been planning for a bit. I own nothing.**

Terror

Once upon a time she wouldn't have taken a hit for anyone, she wouldn't have even thought about it. Especially not for Deku, though when they were kids she had defended him for a long time, until it became clear that he wasn't getting a quirk. Now things were different. If she'd had time she might have thought about it more but she really didn't as she blasted herself into him, shoving him away from the blast the villain had sent his way. She had hoped her momentum would carry her far enough for the blast to slam into the wall behind where Deku had been harmlessly. But her calculations were just slightly off and the bright white light slammed into her chest.

It was supposed to be a practice patrol, minor things in a less crime ridden part of town. They'd been split into groups. Midoriya, Iida, Bakugou and Shinso were one group. Uraraka, Jirou, Kaminari and Todoroki were another. Sero, Kirishima, Ashido and Tsu were a third, and so on. Each group had been given a set are to patrol. There wasn't supposed to be anything big going on. But of course Villains weren't always predictable. They'd run across the man because of the screams. He was in the process of robbing a bank, the guards were on the floor, eyes open but unmoving save for a twitch or two. People were scattering as they moved in to apprehend him. Shinso had radioed Aizawa to let him know what was happening and that he should send medical crews and police to their location. It should have been easy.

The man was tall, and well built but there was no outward appearance of his quirk save for a headpiece that looked a lot like the focus Aoyama wore for his laser. But none of them knew what his quirk was and that made him dangerous. Bakugou and Iida were facing the villain while Deku helped Shinso get the crowd under control and out of the way of the fight. That was when the man had blasted his attack at Deku.

He felt something slam into him from the side and turned mid fall an angry cry falling from his lips as he spotted the white light strike Kacchan in the chest. She went down like a rock, not even trying to catch herself, as green lightning began to spark around him and he growled. Her eyes were wide open and she was twitching just like the guards had been. Shinso shouted over the noise of the crowd.

"Hey Laserface!" The man turned, a snarl on his lips.

"My name is Terror…" And just like that Shinso had him. His eyes went vacant and he wobbled, the bags of cash falling from his fingers. Iida moved in to finish disabling him as Shinso kept the man still with his mind control and Deku turned to Kacchan, still as a rock on the ground. He pulled off his glove and checked her pulse, it was there, beating out a steady rhythm against his fingers but she didn't seem to be able to see him as he leaned over her. He looked up at Iida and Shinso, tears building in his eyes.

"Explain your quirk." Shinso pushed and the man spoke in a flat monotone.

"They call it Guilt. It's a mental quirk, it forces people to relive their worst moments, moments they feel guilty about, moments of weakness." Deku's eyes widened as he shifted Kacchan so her head rested in his lap instead of on the ground. He was careful of her neck. Though the hand shaped burn there had long healed she was still very sensitive about it and tended to keep it hidden as often as she could.

"Can he turn it off?" Shinso relayed Iida's question to the man who shook his head.

"He's not lying, his quirk needs to run its course once you're hit. Mental quirks can be tricky like that." Shinso said as he detached the head gear from the villain and sirens echoed around them as the police arrived. Present Mic arrived with them and stepped over to Deku as the police collected the villain and his gear from Shinso.

"We need to get her back to the school." Present Mic had Iida take Bakugou from Deku and race back to the rendezvous point where there would be a car waiting to take them the rest of the way. Deku was trembling as he stood and Shinso made his way over to the boy laying a hand on his shoulder.

"She'll be alright." Deku sighed and shook his head slightly pulling his glove back on.

"I hope so." Shinso frowned though it was barely visible behind his headpiece.

She couldn't move. It was just like being trapped in that fucking marble again. She was so close to having a panic attack that she could barely breathe. Then the light was broken up by something moving in front of her. She blinked and the images focused. She stared. That was Deku back when they were kids, he couldn't have been older than five. Back when he'd found out he was quirkless. She blinked and a bit more of the scene became clear. Deku had been shoved to the ground by a boy with bright red bat wings. He was laughing calling Deku a useless loser. Deku was starting to cry. Then he seemed to spot her.

'Kacchan!' The boy with the wings spoke again.

'See you need a girl to defend you, just cause she's strong and you're not. And you never will be.' Deku's big green eyes were full of tears, staring at her imploringly but she couldn't move much less speak. But her voice echoed around her anyway. But it wasn't quite the same as it was now.

'Why would I want to help him! Such a loser Deku!' Deku sobbed on the playground as the scene faded and was replace with something similar. That happened a few more times, always her tormenting him for being quirkless. As the visions got closer to the present the teasing got worse and worse, her friends pushing her against him, even though he still followed her around and looked at her like she was made of something precious. The tears started when the visions showed their last few weeks of middle school. She could never take back what she'd said to him, no matter how much she wanted to. She had been wrong, awful and downright evil to him. There was no making that go away.

Deku got to the infirmary just in time to witness Kacchan's tears begin to roll down her face. It had taken him longer than he would like to admit to get there but he and Shinso had been the only two left to tell everyone what had happened. They'd had to go over the story three times. Once for Present Mic after he'd sent Iida on his way with the still unresponsive Bakugou, once for Aizawa and the rest of the class when they arrived at the rendezvous point, and once for the police who had taken the man Terror into custody. One of the two guards was already waking up from his unresponsive state, a shaking emotional mess. They'd overheard him calling his wife and apologizing profusely for an affair he was having. Deku was starting to worry about how this quirk would affect Kacchan.

She had done a lot of things that he knew she regretted in hindsight. They weren't exactly friends but they had developed a friendly rivalry from the hostility she'd had towards him for so long. They were doing well. He put most of that down to the conversation they'd had before, and to an extent during, their fight after she'd been rescued from the League of Villains and worked out the truth about One for All. That had reduced her to a blubbering mess as she screamed about it being her fault that All Might had been forced into retirement. She blamed herself, possibly less now than she had then now that All Might had sat her down and talked to her but he knew she would never fully forgive herself for that. So he'd headed to the infirmary.

Tears were streaming down her face and Recovery Girl just shook her head.

"Nothing we can do. Not until she wakes up. From what you, Shinso and Iida have told me that wont happen until she's been put through every bad thing that she's done, but also every bad thing that's ever happened to her. For her that's a lot." The old woman's eyes flicked to the hand shaped burn on the back of Kacchan's neck, almost hidden by her costumes high collar. Deku flinched. That was about when she started twitching again, violently this time, almost like she was having a seizure. Recovery Girl shoved him out of the room and pulled the curtain shut around her. Deku felt tears start to stream down his face.

She was back with the sludge villain, unable to breathe properly, unable to move, unable to break free, weak and useless. She couldn't direct where her explosions were going, they didn't seem to hurt this thing. She sobbed and shook, this couldn't be real. All Might had saved her from the sludge thing, after Deku had rushed in quirkless to save her. Or had he been? She didn't know but the thought he had to have been knowing now how he used his quirk to save Uraraka during the entrance exam. He would have done the same for her, right? But then again why would he? She was a piece of shit and he probably didn't care about her. He shouldn't care after everything she'd done to him. The scene in front of her faded again. More senseless taunts, angry fights. Targeting him intentionally during their first training session. Then she really was back in the glass marble Compress had put her in. Then her neck was burning as she screamed and cried in pain in front of Todoroki, Shoji and Deku, dragged backwards into darkness.

She was back in the bar, but this time she didn't think the heroes were coming for her. Again Shigaraki was talking, telling her that she didn't belong with the heroes. Then in a blink she was back in the shattered battle field in Kamino, fighting for her freedom, alone as All Might struggled to get to her and fight All for One at the same time. A knife whizzed past her face and she sat up gasping, a scream fighting to claw its way out of her throat.


	16. Terror: Aftermath

**Author's Note: We will be getting more fighting badass Bakugou once I get the angst out of my system. There are some mentions of a suicide attempt in this but not by one of the main characters, just be warned. I own nothing.**

Terror: Aftermath

Todoroki stepped into the infirmary and frowned. There was a sniffling sound he's heard only once before. He'd gone to the hospital again after helping to rescue Bakugou from the League of Villains. He wasn't sure why, but he had to know that she was alright. The police hadn't minded, after all he was the son of the number two, likely soon to be number one, hero. It wasn't like he was a threat to the girl he'd helped to rescue. His father hadn't said anything about him risking his place at UA for Bakugou, but his brother and sister had been very proud of him for helping his friend. But when he'd reached her room he'd heard that same sniffling sound. He'd peaked into the room and spotted the source immediately. Bakugou had been sitting on her bed, alone head in her knees sobbing. He hadn't gone in, unsure what to do about her tears. But hearing that sniffling again now made something in his chest contract and he lightly knocked on the door.

The sniffling stopped almost immediately. Recovery Girl stuck her head around the corner of the curtain looking slightly relieved.

"Ah Todoroki." But before the woman could get any further the curtain was pulled aside. Bakugou stood there, still in most of her hero gear. Her gauntlets and metal neckpiece had been removed but she still looked somewhat intimidating and there were still grenades at her belt. But looking back up at her face he realized her eyes were slightly puffy and redder than normal, like she'd been crying. But she spoke with a familiar bite to her voice.

"Did they get the fucker?" It was straight to the point, as usual but there was something off about the way she was standing. Todoroki nodded.

"Shinso managed to apprehend him shortly after you took the hit for Midoriya." Bakugou didn't even bristle which was concerning. Instead she flinched at the name and her hands clenched and unclenched.

"Good." With that she pushed past him and walked away, out of the infirmary. Todoroki was about to follow her when Recovery Girl caught his arm.

"That may not be the best idea young man. She's just been through every bad thing that's ever happened to her and she's the most hardheaded prideful student I've seen here in years. I think she may need some time to think about things." There was a knock at the door and Midoriya stuck his head into the room looking hopeful. He must have come from the other direction.

"Is Kacchan awake?"

Bakugou dodged around Kirishima and Kaminari, Sero wasn't paying enough attention to stop her as she slipped into the girls locker room and changed out of her costume. She looked down at the top in her hands and crumpled it instead of folding it the way she normally did. She shoved it into her locker and slammed the door closed. Ashido frowned at her.

"Are you ok Bakugou? We heard you took a hit today." But Bakugou didn't answer, instead pulling on her shirt and slinging her dress jacket over her shoulder before exiting the locker room. Ashido peaked her head out and spotted Bakugou heading for the dorms, ignoring everyone.

Present Mic burst into the infirmary as Recovery Girl was explaining to both Todoroki and Midoriya that she couldn't tell them anything that they didn't already know.

"Where's Bakugou?" Midoriya stiffened in concern as Recovery Girl explained that the girl had left nearly twenty minutes ago. Mic swore and Midoriya stepped over to him.

"What's going on?" Mic ran a hand through his hair.

"One of the other victims, the other bank guard, he tried to walk off the hospital roof. He'd done some things in his past that had been shoved back into his face, and well let's just say it wasn't kind." Midoriya's eyes went wide and he tore out of the infirmary, green lightning licking at his heels. Mic turned to Todoroki.

"See if you can't round up the other students to find her, fast."

The roof of the dorms was always nice. Nobody looked for her up here, they never did. It was one of the few places at UA that were truly peaceful. This and the library but she didn't feel like putting up with the librarian shooting her dirty looks for not actually doing anything in the library. She kept running over the past few hours in her head. Seeing what she'd done to Deku, to Midoriya, like that was eye opening to say the least. She sighed as she looked out over the campus.

Deku was going crazy with worry. He couldn't find Kacchan anywhere. What if the bank robbery had been a distraction? Something to get her isolated so the League could strike right when everyone thought they were safe? But no that didn't make sense. Terror had aimed for him not her, she'd shoved him out of the way and taken the hit. That realization set off a fountain of guilt as he skidded to a stop outside the girls locker room almost running into Ashido who held out her hands to steady him.

"Midoriya! Are you alright?" He shook his head.

"Gotta find Kacchan!" He gasped out. Ashido frowned at him.

"She headed for the dorms like ten minutes ago." He didn't stay to listen to the rest of whatever Ashido had to say. He knew it was rude but he could explain later, right now Kacchan's life might hang in the balance.

It still took him almost ten minutes to find her and when he did he almost stopped breathing. She was sitting on the roof, not close to the edge, luckily, staring out over the campus with a slightly vacant expression.

"Kacchan!" She flinched looking up at him, clearly not having heard him come out onto the roof. There were deep set tear tracks on her face and as he watched a few more made their way down her face. She flinched away from him and scrubbed her hands over her face.

"What do you want?" Her voice was choked with fresh tears. He froze at that. The energy he'd been running on drained out of him and he breathed out as One for All released and the green lightning faded out.

"Are… are you alright?" She snorted, but there was a sob buried in there somewhere.

"Why should you care?" He made a noise of distress at that and she rubbed her nose with her sleeve. "I'll tell you, you shouldn't care. I… god I'm such a horrible fucking person. I've been so horrible to you for so long for basically no fucking reason. Maybe Shigaraki was right, maybe I'm not supposed to be a hero." Deku bristled, stomping over to Bakugou he pulled her to her feet by the front of her shirt and spoke, voice hissing out from between his teeth.

"Don't you dare say that! You are one of the best heroes I know! You took a hit for me without even thinking about it! You stood up to the entire League of Villains by yourself when they told you you should join them." There was shock written all over Bakugou's face for a moment, replaced with barely there rage.

"You can't tell me you don't remember what I've said to you. Everything I've done." Deku released her shirt.

"Of course I do Kacchan. I remember everything, but I also know you've changed. I have faith in you, I know you regret what you've done. That fact tells me that you are a good person. I've known it the whole time. You're gonna be one of the greatest heroes ever. I forgive you." For a moment of tense silence Deku was convinced he'd said the wrong thing. Then before he knew what was happening he was wrapped in a warm caramel scented hug. He smiled slightly and hugged her back. They stayed that way for a while as she sniffled into his shoulder.

He let her pull away when she was ready, letting her silently scrub her face free of tears and snot. He made no comment as she picked up her jacket.

"Are you going to be ok?" She rolled her eyes at him slightly.

"Yeah nerd." She turned away from him and then paused. "Thank you." She stepped back into the building and Deku grinned after her.


	17. Kindred

**Author's Note: I had someone request some BakuShin, Bakugou x Shinsou or Shinso. Its spelled Shinso on the official Wiki so I'm going with that, but anyway here we go.**

Kindred

Hitoshi Shinso was used to being on his own. Most of his childhood had been spent on his own, many of his peers and even most adults had been afraid of him because of his quirk. He often wouldn't speak so that people would be more comfortable. Even at UA he felt the stigma against his quirk. Whispers of Villain, and scary and not supposed to be here followed him around the halls even after he'd been transferred into the Hero Course in the spot left behind when Mineta had been expelled. Midoriya accepted him without hesitation and his friends trusted him and thus Shinso. But he couldn't help but feel a bit resentful of them anyway. He really tried not to feel that way but he did. He didn't interact with many of them besides when he had to so he wasn't really surprised when he was left on his own when Midoriya was called to lunch by All Might.

Lunch had just begun and he'd found a table that was empty and remained so after he sat down at least for a while. He was flipping the page on his book when someone set their tray down next to his. He glanced up and was stunned to see Katsuki Bakugou sliding into the seat next to him. She glared at him.

"Something to say Eyebags?" He shook his head slightly. She nodded and pulled a book out of her bag. Flipping it open she began to eat and after a moment he went back to his book. It was a while before either of them spoke.

"You're not a bad guy." If he hadn't been reaching for a napkin and seen her lips move he wouldn't have believed that she had spoken as she turned the page on her book.

"What?" She took a sip of her drink before she spoke again.

"You're not a bad guy. Don't let those fucking extras tell you what you are." He was about to comment that she didn't have any clue what she was talking about but then her hair shifted and the burn scar on the back of her neck became momentarily visible. He froze.

She was probably one of the only people here who actually understood what it was to be accused of being a villain. The League of Villains had targeted her, kidnapped her and attempted to turn her villain, though he had a feeling it didn't have anything to do with her quirk, more her attitude. But she had resisted, refused to be what they wanted her to be. He took the napkin and turned back to his book. After another few moments of silence he spoke.

"Thank you." She let out a noncommittal sound and turned the page on her book. A loud voice echoed over to them.

"There you are Bakugou!" Kirishima flopped down into the seat across from her and grinned at Shinso as Ashido, Kaminari and Sero piled in after him. "Hey Shinso! You did great at training the other day! You look really manly using that capture weapon of yours." He blinked at the redhead as Sero and Kaminari began fighting over Ashido's unwanted brownie before Bakugou snatched it from the other girl's tray replacing it with her uneaten cookie. The acid user grinned and began to babble at Shinso about his costume. He blinked at her, barely able to interject here and there, his book laying forgotten on the table until the bell rang. The four people in front of them barreled out of the cafeteria with an excited shout. Bakugou closed her book.

"I'd say you get used to them but I'm not sure that's true. Come on Eyebags." Kirishima popped his head around the corner and smiled at them.

"Come on you guys you don't want to be late for class!"

"Shut the fuck up Shitty Hair!" Shinso snorted as he closed his own book and followed Bakugou out of the cafeteria.


	18. Concern

**Author's Note: So I'm rolling with this idea in my brain. More angst and fluff here beware. I have been vibing with TodoBaku for a while but I don't know if I'll make anything an official ship for this version of things yet. I own nothing.**

Concern

Katsuki Bakugou wasn't sleeping. It had been nearly a month since she'd been rescued from the league of villains and moved into the new UA dorms. She'd been talking to the councilor once a week since her rescue and it seemed to be helping for the most part but most nights she still woke up in a cold sweat, visions of missing Kirishima's hand or watching All Might die trying to get to her. She never fell asleep after that. She got up and worked out, went on a morning run around the campus or occasionally went down to the communal kitchen and made tea. She didn't know it but she wasn't the only one.

Kirishima had been having nightmares since they'd rescued Bakugou. Dreams in which he missed her hand, dreams where she didn't hear him, dreams where Shigaraki reached her before she could set off her explosion and escape. Usually he could text or call Bakugou, or Ashido if Bakugou didn't respond which was rare. But when it happened Ashido was always willing to check on her. He usually had little trouble falling back asleep after that.

Deku had been having nightmares since Kacchan was taken. It had gotten a bit better since they'd rescued her but sometimes he would still wake up a scream trying to fight its way out of his throat as the image of darkness swallowing Kacchan faded. He would cry whenever it happened, usually sobbing himself back to sleep, which was always mercifully empty of dreaming. He'd talked to Uraraka about it, which seemed to be helping. Iida had been talking to him about the whole ordeal as well, All Might would sit him down every few days and talk it out too. He was worried about Kacchan though. She wasn't so good at talking to people. And according to Uraraka she hadn't been sleeping well.

Todoroki was in a similar situation to Midoriya, but he wasn't talking to people. He didn't share his problems. It had never been something that had been acceptable at home. He trained, that was all he did. Though his brother and sister insisted that no matter what he could talk to them. But he always felt, well for lack of a better word weak when he went to others for help. So he upped his training and started taking middle of the night runs.

One night he arrived back in the dorms after a run around campus and found that the common room was not empty. It was nearly two in the morning but the light in the kitchen was on. It made him tense, they were safe of campus. Mr. Aizawa was still in his room and Present Mic was in his recording studio just off his office running his midnight show. He stepped up to the door of the kitchen and froze.

Bakugou was leaning on the kitchen island dressed in a pair of All Might running shorts and a black UA t shirt. She looked tired, the bags under her eyes starting to rival Mr. Aizawa's. The electric kettle was bubbling away on the counter in front of her, a black mug emblazoned with the words 'Have A Nice Day' on the side waited with a tea bag for the water to reach the right temperature. She sighed, shoving her hair away from her face.

"I know you're there, might as well stop lurking like a fucking creep." Todoroki started in the doorway and felt his face heat slightly. He tamped it down though as he stepped into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge. They were silent for a moment before Bakugou moved, stepping over to the cabinet that held the mugs. She pulled down his red and white mug and shut the cabinet setting the mug down next to hers she opened another cabinet.

"What kid of tea Icy-Hot?" Her tone brooked no argument so he glanced over her shoulder to see what kinds they had. With Yaoyarozu in residence it was no surprise that there were quite a few varieties of tea.

"Lemon." She grabbed a sachet out of the yellow box and dropped it into the waiting mug. The kettle beeped and she poured, filling both mugs. She grabbed the honey out of the tea cabinet and poured a generous amount into her mug before holding it out to Todoroki so he could fix his tea the way he liked. He nodded to her and handed her a spoon from the drawer next to him. She stirred her tea and blew on it to cool it slightly before taking a sip. He almost laughed at the bottom of the mug which was emblazoned with a hand shooting a middle finger at him. She was still staring at him. But somehow it didn't make him uncomfortable. It was another few minutes before she spoke.

"So what the hell are you doing up Half and Half?" He shrugged.

"Trouble sleeping." She nodded. "You?"

"None of your fucking business." She stepped past him and into the living area. She didn't head to the stairs or elevator though. Instead she set her mug down and flopped down on the couch looking around for something. She grumbled. "Fucking Kaminari, losing the fucking remote. Every fucking time." She dug into the couch cushions and made a triumphant sound as she fished the tv remote out of its depths. She turned back around and glared at him.

"Are you gonna stand there all fucking night?" He had a decision to make. He could head up to the boys floor, leaving her alone with her thoughts, or he could stay. But he'd have to make it sound like he wasn't concerned for her. It was something he'd learned from watching her interactions with Midoriya. He was always open about caring for Bakugou. But he knew that she was too proud to accept help. It was why neither of them could have called out the her in Kamino. Kirishima was like her brother, he'd found a spot as her equal. But Todoroki wasn't sure where they stood. After the sports festival she hadn't spoken to him for nearly a weak, then accused him of going easy on her because she was a girl, which of course had nothing to do with why he hadn't used his fire on her. He nodded to himself and sat down on her right. She blinked at him.

"The hell are you doing Half and Half?" He shrugged.

"I'm not going to be able to sleep anymore tonight. I could use the company." She blinked at him like that was the last thing she'd expected him to say.

"Do whatever you want but if you complain about my movie choice I'm blowing you off the couch." He shrugged and she selected a movie. It was an older Disney movie. The Hunchback of Notre Dame, he'd never seen it before. He wasn't allowed much free time as a child to just sit and watch movies. When he said this out loud she glared but something in her eyes told him it wasn't really directed at him.

"Well it's one of my favorites so shut the fuck up and watch it!" He nodded and quickly became engaged in the film. So much so he almost jumped out of his skin when he felt a pressure on his left shoulder. He looked down and blinked. She'd fallen asleep. She looked peaceful, careful to not disturb her he swung the blanket off the back of the couch and over her. He turned back to the movie as she seemed to snuggle closer to him in her sleep.

"You're lucky, that arrow almost pierced your heart." He ran a cautious hand through her hair as the movie continued and he refocused on it.

"I'm not so sure it didn't."

Yaoyarozu was rudely awoken from a peaceful sleep by an aborted scream. She was out of bed and across the hall in seconds. Uraraka was standing in Bakugou's doorway, but the blonde's room was empty, scorch marks had turned her once white sheets black in most places. Ashido was the next one to arrive, followed closely by the other girls and a banging on the door of the stairs.

"We heard screaming!"

"Is everything ok?"

"Mina! Bakugou's not answering her phone what's going on!"

Ashido let out a loud whistle.

"This is why I usually check her room in the mornings Uraraka. She probably woke up again last night. We were all super tired from training yesterday. I don't think any of us would have heard her." Uraraka scrubbed her face and nodded as Ashido ducked into her room and came out minutes later in her uniform, holding her tie. She stepped over to the stairs as the other girls dispersed back to their rooms to change. She waited for the hallway to clear before she opened the door and several bodies fell forwards, landing hard on the floor. Kirishima pulled himself out of the pile.

"What's going on?" Ashido shrugged tying her tie.

"Bakugou had another nightmare. Went for a walk and isn't back yet. She's probably destroying the open gym again." Everybody nodded and she heard Deku let out a sigh from the bottom of the pile as they all filed back down to their floor. She pulled him to his feet and smiled at him as she stepped out of the girls level and walked with him down the stairs.

"You really care about her huh?" Deku went bright red.

"Yeah… I mean Kacchan and I have a very complicated relationship. We… We were friends when we were kids and I think we're getting back there, slowly." Ashido nodded.

"That's good. I need food. See you downstairs." Ashido skipped down the rest of the stairs and into the living area. She froze at the sight in front of her, suddenly understanding why Todoroki hadn't been in the group of boys who came to check on the girls. He was asleep on the couch and draped over his left side was Bakugou, sound asleep like Ashido hadn't seen in a very long time. She whipped out her cellphone and snapped a few pictures before sending them to the class group chat with the caption, 'well I found her.' The flood of messages that followed had Ashido snorting so loudly Todoroki stirred on the couch, and blinked at her confused. He didn't seem flustered though when he noticed Bakugou still sound asleep on him. Quite the contrary, he smiled and gently laid his hand on her hair. Ashido nearly squealed. He shot her a reprimanding look as Bakugou shifted but remained asleep.

"Sorry. But you two are just so cute. You care about her, not a lot of people will show it, or can without her blowing us away." Todoroki glanced back down at the firecracker still sleeping against him. They both seemed to have shifted at some point and she was draped over his left side one hand loosely around his waist. Ashido snuck through the living room, tiptoeing so she didn't disturb the explosion user and made it to the kitchen. She refilled the electric tea kettle and set up a mug for Yaoyarozu and flinched as she heard a few more people barrel into the living room without the care she'd had upon entering. There was a soft snort then a crash of what she guessed was the coffee table breaking as Bakugou rolled off of Todoroki. Third table this month. They needed a better one anyway.


	19. Temperature

**Author's Note: Idk what I'm doing. I'm just running with ideas at this point. I own nothing.**

Temperatures

It happened after Todoroki burned through his third shirt of the week, leaving half of it intact and the other ash on the ground. Once training was over someone threw a tank top in his face. He blinked and glanced around to see Bakugou glaring at him.

"Stop burning all your clothes idiot. You make us fire users look like idiots." It hadn't really occurred to him that they both had temperature quirks in a way. He picked up the tank top off the floor.

"Thank you. I don't have a lot of practice with my fire. Besides it's difficult to find temperature resistant clothes." Bakugou snorted at him.

"Shows what you know." He blinked at her. She shook her head and tore a piece of paper out of one of her notebooks, she scribbled down an address and slapped the paper to his face before walking away.

It took him a few days to actually go to the address she'd written down for him. It turned out to be a small Boutique called Temp. The inside was separated into two halves by a few signs, one in blue that read Low Temp and another that was red that read High Temp. One of the associates, dressed in a blue top and red skirt stepped over to him.

"Hello how can I help you?" He nodded to her.

"A… friend of mine recommended this store for people with quirks that affect temperature." The woman smiled and nodded.

"That's what we're here for! The owner actually has a niece with an explosion quirk. When it developed he did some research and found that there weren't too many stores that catered to that kind of need for something stylish and resistant to temperatures. So he opened this place." Todoroki nodded as the woman took him around the store, both sides when she discovered what his quirk was assuring him that they could have some things adjusted and tailor made for him. It wasn't like he didn't have the money for it after all. He had a generous allowance from his father. He'd have to bring his sister here at some point, she would like some of the clothes here and they were resistant to her ice. He was heading to the fitting room when he spotted the blonde head of hair.

"Hold still Katsuki!" The blonde grumbled but let the man pin the skirt up slightly at the hem. It was a bright green strapless number. She was wearing a light grey scarf, presumably to cover the scar on the back of her neck and she rolled her eyes at the man. They had similar noses he noticed and then spotted Mitsuki Bakugou in the background going through one of the other racks. She and the man working on Katsuki's outfit had similar facial structures, they had to be related. Mitsuki spotted him and waved.

"Hey, it's that nice Todoroki!" Bakugou whirled and swore as the man who was pinning her dress accidently stabbed her in the leg with one of the pins in his hand. No not in his hand. They were coming out of his hand, sort of how Mineta had his quirk instead of hair this man seemed to have sewing pins and needles instead of nails. Not quite sire what to do Todoroki waved back. Katsuki glared at him as Mitsuki made her way over to him. She quickly managed to get him to tell her why he was here and at that she pulled him over to the man who had just finished pinning Katsuki's dress and sent her back into the fitting room to change back into her regular clothes. The man smiled and introduced himself as Mitsuki's older brother and the owner of the store.

"I was just fitting one of my spring dresses for Katsuki. She may not enjoy it as much as training for hero work but she makes a great model for this store, or at least for our fire resistant line." Todoroki couldn't help but agree. "Are you here to get fitted?" Todoroki nodded and the man smiled.

"I'll take care of you personally!" A familiar snort from the door to the fitting room caught Todoroki's attention. Katsuki had stepped back out of the room. She was in street clothes, but this time she looked much more comfortable. She wore a pair of low slung jeans and a black t-shirt with the word BOOM written across it in bright orange. He felt himself smile slightly. Her hair was down, the mess of ash blonde curls covering the scar at the back of her neck.

"There's no need to treat Icy-Hot like royalty." Her mother laughed as Katsuki pulled on an All Might hoodie. Her uncle rolled his eyes and took the clothes from Todoroki.

"Nonsense! The son of the number one hero gets the best treatment here." Todoroki frowned and shook his head.

"All Might's not my dad though." He jumped as the most raucous laugh he'd ever heard burst forth from Katsuki. She doubled over slightly as she kept laughing, infecting her mother and uncle with her merriment. Todoroki smiled wide and blinked at her. He'd never seen her laugh like this, or much at all really. She sometimes snorted in amusement around Kirishima but never full out laughter like this. She swiped at her eyes finally catching her breath.

"Never knew you had a sense of humor Half and Half." He smiled wider as she grinned at him. He made a promise to himself that he would see that smile more often, even if he wasn't quite sure how he'd caused it.


	20. Realization

**Author's Note: Yes I live! I am returning to this. I own nothing.**

Realization 

"Oi, Shitty Hair." Kirishima looked up and grinned at Bakugou. She had come over to him a few minutes after class had ended.

"Hey what's up dude?" She rolled her eyes and turned the chair on the desk in front of his before plopping down in it.

"Need your help with something." Kirishima quirked an eyebrow at her but nodded. He was smart enough not to call her out on asking for help. Kaminari and Sero, who were at a neighboring desk, weren't.

"Wait did you just as for…?" Kaminari got no further as Bakugou lunged and slammed their heads together so hard Kirishima saw their eyes roll.

"Not a word. I may bring you two along as backup." Rubbing their heads they pulled chairs up to Kirishima's desk. Bakugou hesitated for a moment, rolled her eyes again and pulled a nicely folded piece of paper out of her pocket. It was lavender and there were carefully written words on it.

'To the Bombshell of Class 1-A'

Kirishima raised an eyebrow. Sero leaned over to get a better look at it. Kaminari cackled until Bakugou slapped her hand over his mouth.

"Do you want to taste an explosion today?" Her eyes were blazing as she growled out the words. Kaminari shook his head. Kirishima held out a hand, contemplating that Bakugou had picked the perfect time to approach them. The rest of the class had already left, either to the gym for extra training or to the library to study or out to have a bit of fun. Bakugou grumbled as she released Kaminari's face and handed the note to Kirishima. He unfolded it and read it silently. Kaminari and Sero reading over her shoulder.

'Dear Bakugou, I have never seen someone as fierce and spectacular as you. Meet me behind the gym today at 4.

Your Secret Admirer.'

Kirishima raised an eyebrow.

"Why do you need us?" Bakugou rolled her eyes and sat down in the chair she'd vacated.

"Could be a trap." It was such a simple sentence and it hurt all three of her friends to their core. Ever since her kidnapping Bakugou had an even harder time trusting people than before. Her admission that she needed them was a huge step in the right direction. It also meant that she trusted them whether she'd say it or not.

"We'll help, but what if it's not a trap?" Kirishima was genuinely curious about her answer for that one. Bakugou shrugged.

"Well then they're shit out of luck." Kirishima frowned, there was something else behind her eyes, almost like there might be an exception. None of them questioned it though. Kaminari looked like he was about to but Sero slapped a piece of tape over his mouth. He seemed to have clued into the fact that they were in the very delicate position of being trusted by Katsuki Bakugou. It wasn't a spot he wanted to vacate anytime soon.

"If we're gonna get there by four we'll need to head out soon." Bakugou stood and straightened her skirt. Kirishima slipped into step beside her.

"If you don't mind my asking who do you think it is?" Bakugou shrugged.

"Brave motherfucker, I'll say that." Kirishima nodded letting her dodge the question. The small group went around the back of the gym and Bakugou stopped them at the corner.

"You idiots wait here. I'll signal you if I need you." She walked away before they could ask what the signal would be. Knowing her Kirishima was banking on an explosion. He spotted the figure as Bakugou did. She shifted, If Kirishima didn't know better he'd say she'd gone from defensive to disappointed in an instant.

Todoroki and Deku were waiting for their turn on one of the arena floors when Deku spotted movement outside. Curious he looked outside and his eyes widened.

"Is that Kacchan?" Todoroki turned and spotted the familiar blonde head of hair. She wasn't alone though, there was a figure, a boy by the look of him, with bright blue hair, standing across from her. He had to be from the business course or an older student because Todoroki didn't recognize him. He did recognize his intention though as he pulled a bouquet of roses out from behind his back and held it out to Bakugou.

Anger bubbled in him, hot and quick. Then he paused and wondered why he was so angry. Deku didn't look much better though. He was still looking out the window, Todoroki quickly refocused. Bakugou was handing the roses back to the boy. Todoroki felt something like hope burst to life in his chest and saw a surprised but happy expression on Deku's face.

"At least she seems to be letting him down easy." Todoroki nodded and began to focus on the feelings in his chest. He couldn't really describe it but he'd been exceedingly disappointed and angry when he'd seen the other boy making a move. But when Bakugou had turned him down he'd been relieved. Hmmm did that mean…?

It was like something clicked into place in his brain and he froze, though only figuratively. He liked Bakugou. As more than a friend, much more. He genuinely looked forward to the nights they spent watching children's tv and movies together. Her smile was the brightest thing she could ever remember seeing. Her laugh, though snorting and raucous, was the best sound in the world. He wanted nothing more than to keep her safe and happy.

He sat down hard running a hand over his face. He was well and truly fucked.


	21. Push

**Author's Note: I am still alive! I just haven't had time to write a lot lately. But I had an interesting idea. This is somewhat based on an idea someone shot my way but not entirely. I own nothing.**

Push

Ever since the events at the summer camp and the subsequent fight at Kamino, Katsuki Bakugou had been pushing herself to her limits and beyond. In all honestly the whole class really should have seen this coming. But all of them were too busy. They had a new classmate, Shinso Hitoshi who'd taken the spot left behind from Mineta's expulsion. And they were all training harder than before. The league of villains hadn't been spotted since All For One's defeat but none of them thought it was over. But really if they had been paying a bit more attention they might have been able to prevent what was about to happen.

The day started as most did. Commotion in the dorms. Todoroki and Bakugou were already awake, downstairs sharing a cup of tea. Or pretending not to be sharing it in the blonde's case. But it was getting harder for her to deny it these days. She knew exactly how he took his tea now. It had been a few weeks since she'd fallen asleep on him and finally slept through the rest of the night without dreams. She didn't want to call it a habit, but that's what it had become. She would wake up from her nightmares, and head down to the main shared floor. If he was down there already they would watch a children's movie or TV show that Todoroki had never seen. There were quite a few of those as it turned out and the generally light plots and even sometimes songs helped lull Bakugou back to sleep. He would usually have tea ready for them.

The nights he wasn't down there already weren't that great. She had tried watching the movies on her own in the hopes that they would have the same effect without him, and she'd fried a couch after falling asleep and having another nightmare. After that she didn't try that again, instead she would head to the open gym and take out her fear on the equipment. She was rapidly becoming the bane of the Support Class though apparently Mei Hatsume was taking it as a personal challenge. She would usually leave the gym in shambles. If Todoroki miraculously slept through the night she would stop back by the shared floor of the dorms. No, she wasn't looking for him and she would fry anyone for even suggesting it. She would grab a bottle of water and go for a run. Even after all that she still managed to be top of the class in fighting and near the top in everything else.

But that day something was different. When Kirishima, Kaminari and Sero bumbled their way into the common room arguing loudly about some video game or another Bakugou flinched. Todoroki was the only one who noticed. He'd long ago figured out that paying close attention to the blonde was the only way to figure things out about her. It made sense that Midoryia knew so much about her, they had known each other since they were children, at least if Uraraka's information was correct. Midoryia would be up on all her little ticks and twitches that were her way of showing any emotion besides anger. This one was new to him though, he'd never seen her flinch before. She slid out of the room, walking out the door just as Midoryia entered. Like she was avoiding him. That was unlike her. Sure she never sought him out unless it was for a fight but she never actively avoided him like this. Todoroki frowned. He shook his head and headed upstairs to change.

Class was quiet, too quiet. Even Aizawa noticed. Something was definitely off, though Mina, Kaminari, Kirishima and Sero kept acting up throughout the day Bakugou never joined in. She didn't even yell at them or call them idiots. It was worrying. Midoryia was staring holes through the back of her head but she still didn't even acknowledge him. When Aizawa announced that they'd be heading back to the USJ for the afternoon everyone looked excited as Aizawa explained the beefed up security measures the building had gone through. As he did the class grew more excited, except for Bakugou. She had ducked over her bag like she was looking for something but set it back down after a few minutes without pulling anything out of it. He frowned, her face was much redder than it had been that morning but he was distracted again as Aizawa called for them all to go change and get on the bus. Bakugou was one of the first out the door.

It was after they were teamed up, saving dummies in different areas of the USJ, when things finally went wrong. Todoroki had managed to get paired with Bakugou. If asked he would deny strategically placing himself near her when Aizawa started picking groups. Her cheeks were bright red under her mask and she kept sniffing like her nose was running. They were in the collapse zone when he finally put two and two together and realized that she was sick and trying to push through it. He knew it probably wasn't a good idea to bring it up, but her reaction time had taken a hit, a serious hit. He didn't realize just how bad it was until the building started shaking around them and she didn't react. He barely had time to leap over to her and throw up a dome of ice around them before the whole building was coming down around their ears.

She wobbled and her knees went out from under her, her glazed eyes slipping closed. He caught her one handed. Even though his left half ran hotter than a normal person's he could tell that she was running much hotter than she should be. He swore under his breath and focused on adding a few extra layers of ice to the dome surrounding them, it would be strong enough to keep the debris out for a while but they had no airholes and things would quickly go sour if they didn't get help and soon. Todoroki gently lay Bakugou on the ground and tapped his com.

"Mayday! This is Todoroki. We need an evac in the collapse zone, priority one!" Priority one was part of a code that the class had all agreed on after what had happened at the training camp. Priority one was their red alert, it meant that someone was hurt and in immediate danger of further harm. There was a seconds silence over the coms before everyone sprang into action. Midoryia took charge, Uraraka and Ashido on their way to lift and melt the debris after confirming that Todoroki had Bakugou and they were both under a thick layer of ice. Once the debris was removed Todoroki would be able to easily melt their way out. Aizawa's voice came over the coms as Todoroki began to hear the debris shift.

"What happened?" Todoroki paused but told him what he knew. Aizawa let out an aggrieved sigh. "Try to keep her temperature down. We're almost through to you." Todoroki nodded he was starting to be able to see light through his ice as he gently switched Bakugou to his right arm, supporting her against him. He let that side of him cool and gently pressed his right hand to her forehead. There was a tap on the ice and he stood carefully arranging her so she was leaning against him, she was still out cold. He carefully melted the ice and scooped Bakugou up carrying her out of the dome as the rest of the class fussed. Midoryia though looked almost like he'd been expecting something like this.

"I was hoping she would take it easy." Kirishima frowned.

"You knew she was sick." Midoryia shrugged.

"Only after we got to class, she always gets really bad headaches when she gets sick and she was flinching at loud noises and not exploding as often." Aizawa lightly smacked Midoryia on the back of the head.

"Next time you notice something like that tell someone! This could have been much, much worse." He continued to lecture the class in general about knowing their limits and not pushing themselves as Todoroki carried Bakugou to one of the benches and gently lay her down, her head resting in his lap as he placed his right hand back on her forehead to keep her temperature from rising any further. He was so focused he started when a blanket was gently pulled over Bakugou. He looked up and his eyes met Yaoyarozu's knowing ones. She was smiling. The others seemed to have gone back to their tasks.

"You really do like her huh?" Todoroki went bright red, his red hair beginning to smoke. Yaoyarozu shook her head. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about. I think it's cute." Aizawa stepped up to them and shooed Yaoyarozu off, back to her team.

"Present Mic is gonna take her back to the school, we'll have Recovery Girl look her over. She'll be alright." Todoroki nodded and carried Bakugou into Present Mic's car and made sure she was set up, still out cold in the front seat. Aizawa let him watch Mic drive her away before he shooed him back inside to join one of the groups. He shook his head as the boy walked off, glancing back over his shoulder. He smiled, this meant All Might owed him money.


End file.
